Wero shows first results: Promises of fast, secure and simple digital payments become reality.

Wero has been designed as an alternative to international payment schemes and aims to offer a European, secure, and seamless mobile payment solution. To provide choice and convenience to all users, Wero has been made available in all the applications of EPI's bank members and soon, in the standalone application developed by EPI for sending and receiving money. Other value-added services will follow.

Customers of German savings and cooperative banks have been able to access and use Wero within their banking apps since July 2024. The launch of the peer-to-peer (P2P) service enables users to send and receive money easily and instantly to friends and family, by simply providing a phone number or email address. Further functional enhancements have been added, such as the "Request Money" feature and the generation of personal QR codes, especially elaborated to protect personal data, In the event of a person-to-person payment with strangers. 

"With Wero, we are aiming to develop a new standard for digital payments in Germany and actively contribute to the independence and sovereignty of Europe in payments " emphasizes Dr Joachim Schmalzl, Managing Director of the DSGV. "The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is proud to be part of this European initiative, which offers our customers a secure, fast, and user-friendly payment solution and will provide an attractive service for merchants, who are already showing a strong interest in the solution."

With the launch of the Wero stand-alone app, EPI is creating an alternative use option for Wero, along the banks' apps. This will be available to Postbank customers from next week onwards and to Deutsche Bank customers in 2025. Other banks will follow gradually. 

"Wero is more than just another payment app. It is a step towards a standardized European payment landscape" adds Dr Dominik Hennen, Head of Personal Banking at Deutsche Bank. "We are delighted to be able to offer our customers this innovative solution that simplifies payments across national borders."

Wero roadmap: what’s next?

In addition to the P2P feature, Wero aims to integrate new features with the launch of its retail solution in 2025. These include payments at retailers with the Wero wallet and mobile payments in e-commerce. 

According to “The European Mobile Payment Landscape” study conducted by IPSOS on behalf of EPI (1), Germany has a unique position in the region with regard to its payment habits. While cash remains popular among Germans, there is a growing interest in digital payment solutions, especially for e-commerce and peer-to-peer transactions, with a focus on security, cost efficiency, and ease of use. With 44% of respondents planning to use mobile payment solutions in the future and a strong interest in innovative features such as "Scan & Go" (31%) and loyalty programs (33%), there is a clear trend toward the adoption of digital transformation.

"The launch of Wero in Germany underlines our commitment to innovative and customer-centric solutions. As part of the Genossenschaftliche FinanzGruppe (German corporative banks), we see Wero as an opportunity to offer members and customers of our cooperative banks real added value. Therefore, we will perform the first Proof of Concept in e-commerce and Friends & Family-phase for P2Pro in December this year. With this action, we confirm the smooth functioning of the solution for online merchants and continue our journey in the market launch in 2025, leveraging as for the rest of Wero the fact that payments will be directly happening from and to the bank account, instantly and transparently for the clients." explains Thomas Ullrich, member of the DZ Bank Management Board. 

Point-of-sale payments at retailers are also included in the wallet's development plans for 2026. 

Other value-added services such as Buy Now-Pay Later (installments), merchant loyalty program integration and split payments are in the pipeline, as is the management of recurring payments linked to subscriptions. The European Payments Initiative is also in discussions with other banks to join the project in 2025. In Germany, ING will roll out the solution in 2025. 

"As a pan-European bank, we see great added value in a standardized European offering that allows our customers to make mobile, online and in-store payments in a matter of seconds" comments Christian Böhrer, Tribe Lead Payments at ING Germany. "With iDeal, ING has already proven in the Netherlands that it can compete with the major international providers in the e-commerce sector with its bank offering. We now want to scale this approach throughout Europe."

In three to four years, Wero will be an "all-in-one" European payment solution that will allow everyone to manage their finances easily and securely, while meeting their needs in terms of privacy and compliance with European regulations. 

“After a phased launch of Wero in 3 European countries, we can now focus on deepening our market penetration including more banks and features and accelerate the next steps in commercial payments by working with merchants and their service providers. The proposition of Wero needs to be built up step by step to ensure that Wero will become a true European success story,” concludes Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI.

About EPI

EPI or European Payments Initiative is supported by 16 European banks and payment service providers. They have joined forces with a common objective: to offer a unified digital payment service for all European businesses and citizens, Wero. EPI intends to enable European consumers and merchants to make next-generation payments for all types of retail transactions via a digital wallet. Based on instant account-to-account payments, Wero will further streamline payments in Europe by eliminating intermediaries in the payment chain and the associated costs. Wero will initially support P2P payments. This will be followed by P2Pro payments and payments for online and mobile purchases. Point-of-sale payments will also be included, along with value-added services, such as merchant loyalty programs. 

About DSGV

The Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (German Savings Banks Association, DSGV) is the umbrella organisation of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.

It is funded by the regional savings banks associations together with the Landesbanken. It represents the interests of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe on banking policy, regulatory law and other banking industry issues on a national and international level. It also organises decision-making and stipulates strategic direction within the Group, acting in cooperation with the regional associations and other Group institutions. 

About Deutsche Bank 

Deutsche Bank is Germany's leading bank. It has a strong market position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. Deutsche Bank offers a wide range of financial services – from payment transactions and lending to investment advice and asset management to all forms of capital markets business. Its customers include private customers, medium-sized companies, corporations, the public sector and institutional investors. 

About DZ Bank

DZ BANK is the central institution in the cooperative financial network and serves around 700 cooperative banks. As “DZ BANK. Die Initiativbank”, it is also active as a corporate bank and is the holding company for the specialised service providers in the DZ BANK Group: With its extensive range of financial products and services, the DZ BANK Group supports the local cooperative banks - and their around 7,200 branch offices - in Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Capital Markets and Transaction Banking. DZ BANK has branches in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as subsidiaries and representative offices in key financial centres throughout the world. (www.dzbank.de)

About ING

With more than 9 million customers, we are the third largest bank in Germany. Our core business includes current accounts, mortgages, savings accounts, consumer loans and investment products. In the Business Banking segment, we grant loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and offer an interest-bearing savings account. In the Wholesale Banking segment, we provide banking solutions and services for large, multinational companies. With more than 5,000 colleagues, we are located in Frankfurt am Main (headquarters), Berlin, Hanover and Nuremberg.