November 16, 2025
Wero unveils its e-commerce solution and announces first merchants in Germany
EPI shares the German results of its 2025 European payments barometer.
Paris, November 17, 2025 – The European Payments Initiative (EPI), the pan-European initiative to create a sovereign and unified payment alternative for Europe, today presents Wero’s new e-commerce solution to enable online payments at merchants in Germany and announces the first ones accepting Wero at their websites.
Wero e-commerce is now live in Germany
After instant peer-to-peer transfers, Wero's more than 46 million European users will now be able to find merchants accepting this payment solution that was quickly adopted and is now part of European users’ daily lives.
Wero’s e-commerce solution is now deployed by Sparkassen and Volksbanken / Raiffeisenbanken in Germany. In the coming weeks and months, additional EPI members banks in Germany (Postbank and Deutsche Bank first, and then ING Deutschland and Revolut) will also allow Wero e-commerce transactions in the next months. Other banks will be announced at a later stage
Among the first merchants to express their intention to activate Wero at an early stage, are Eventim, Decathlon, Lidl , Rossmann, CEWE, Cineplex, Zooplus, Dott, Hornbach, Air Europa, Veepee, as well as BAUR (for settling outstanding invoices). They will enable their customers to complete transactions easily and intuitively directly through Wero.
Designed as an alternative to international payment systems, Wero offers Europeans a secure and seamless mobile payment solution. The project, supported by 16 European banks and payment service providers, continues its expansion with the integration of new bank members. EPI now has more than 1,100 members, divided between banks – acting on the consumer side, and acquirers acting on the merchant side. In Germany, acquirers and partners supporting Wero are at this stage Buckaroo, Deutsche Bank, Nexi, Nuvei, Payabl, PAYONE, Pay.NL, PPRO, Unzer, Société Générale, Stripe, VR Payment and Worldline. Other acquirers and partners will be announced soon.
In 2026, four new countries will also launch Wero in e-commerce: Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where the migration of the iDEAL solution to Wero will start next year.
Wero's success is rooted in shared ambition. Across Europe, banks, payment providers and merchants are working together to establish what no single institution could accomplish alone. The launch of Wero's e-commerce solution marks another important milestone: A collective step towards a sovereign European payment ecosystem.
We are proud to see our objective of deploying a sovereign European payment solution, becoming each day more concrete thanks to this new milestone on e-commerce, that is now live in Germany and soon in Belgium, Netherlands and France. The enthusiasm of Europeans, consumers and merchants, demonstrates the need for a European alternative to international payment systems, and we thank them for supporting this ambition with us.
Merchants are vital to Wero's success as a European payment solution. As The Global Hausbank, we serve as a dedicated partner (acquirer) for merchants and FinTechs, helping them seamlessly integrate Wero as a payment option and reach their customers across Germany and four other European countries. Simultaneously, we offer our private clients Wero for secure money transfers and convenient online payments.
As a pilot partner of EPI, the Cooperative Financial Group has supported the technical implementation of Wero in e-commerce from the very beginning. We are very pleased that we were able to make a decisive contribution to preparing Wero for this next stage of expansion and to be involved in the market launch with all cooperative banks, our acquirer VR Payment and the first merchants.
Since the launch of our peer-to-peer offering in August, our customers have already activated 350,000 Wero wallets. The successful launch phase shows that many people are looking for an alternative payment option – a consciously European offering developed and operated according to local standards. Digital sovereignty and data protection are becoming increasingly important for bank customers.
Wero benefits for merchants and for users
Thanks to EPI's 100% API-based infrastructure, merchants will benefit from a simplified onboarding process. Wero will allow merchants to easily connect with consumers in any participating market in Europe, through a solution developed by and for Europeans, while users will enjoy a frictionless cross-border payment experience.
In the long term, Wero will make it possible to make online payments, in-store payments, but also to pay for subscriptions and offer value-added services such as the integration of merchants' loyalty programs. Transactions will gradually cover both simple and complex cases such as payment according to use or in several instalments to cover all market needs.
About EPI
EPI (or European Payments Initiative) is supported by 16 European banks and payment service providers. They have joined forces with a common goal: to offer a unified mobile payment service, to all European companies and citizens, Wero. EPI intends to enable European consumers and merchants and to carry out all types of retail transactions simply, via a resolutely sovereign digital wallet.
Find out more at epicompany.eu
About Wero
Based on instant account-to-account (A2A) payments, Wero further streamlines payments in Europe by eliminating intermediaries in the payment chain and the associated additional costs. Wero already supports payments between individuals, and will shortly unveil payments to professionals (P2Pro) and those for online and mobile purchases. Point-of-sale payments will also be offered, as well as value-added services such as merchant loyalty programs and recurring subscription management.
Find out more at wero-wallet.eu.