Latest news with #EuroPA
Finextra
30-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Strategic agreement between EPI and EuroPA: building a unified European digital payments network: By Roberto Garavaglia
On June 23, 2025, the 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (𝗘𝗣𝗜) and 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗣𝗔 announced a major collaboration aimed at creating an interoperable, sovereign European ecosystem for digital payments—offering a credible alternative to international card schemes. WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS? EuroPA is an alliance of national digital payment champions – 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁(Italy), 𝗕𝗶𝘇𝘂𝗺 (Spain), 𝗠𝗕 𝗪𝗔𝗬 (Portugal), 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗸 (Poland), 𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗦 (Greece), and 𝗩𝗶𝗽𝗽𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗣𝗮𝘆 (Nordics). These solutions are already widely adopted and focus on enabling technical interoperability between existing mobile wallets, offering fast and integrated payment experiences within their local banking ecosystems. EPI has launched Wero, a pan-European digital wallet based on SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) and Payment Initiation Services (PIS) under PSD2. Wero enables instant, account-to-account (A2A) payments without relying on traditional card networks. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES? EuroPA solutions are rooted in domestic infrastructures, with varying technological approaches. Wero, in contrast, offers a unified architecture, designed for full interoperability and scale across Europe. What they share is the 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀, who manage accounts and ensure service delivery. WHY DOES THIS MATTER? The agreement lays the groundwork for true operational convergence between well-established solutions and a next-generation infrastructure. It accelerates the adoption of A2A payments across all transaction types: P2P, B2C, C2B, B2B WHAT ABOUT THE DIGITAL EURO? The digital euro, a retail CBDC under development by the ECB, shares key goals: instant payments, interoperability, and reduced dependency on non-European networks. But there are fundamental differences: 📌 In the EPI-EuroPA model, payments are executed in commercial bank money, with banks playing a central role. 📌 In the digital euro model, payments would be made in central bank money, with banks having a less central role in the transaction flow. THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN PAYMENTS DEPENDS ON A SYNERGY BETWEEN COMPLEMENTARY MODELS ... ➡️ Commercial banks + infrastructure innovation (EPI-EuroPA) ➡️ Central bank money + digital inclusion (digital euro) 🔗 EPI Company Press Release: 🔗 Finextra:
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EuroPA and EPI collaborate to strengthen cross-border payments in Europe
The EuroPA alliance and EPI Company have collaborated to explore solutions for enhancing Europe's sovereignty in payments, focusing on cross-border transactions. The initiative aims to allow European citizens to send and receive payments seamlessly across the continent, supporting both consumers and merchants. EuroPA alliance includes Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY (SIBS), and Vipps MobilePay. 'The collaboration between EuroPA and EPI is driven by a shared interest in exploring a joint solution that leverages the strong adoption and existing capabilities of each participant through enhanced interconnectivity,' EPI said in a press release. The partnership seeks to cover all payment types, including person-to-person and commercial transactions, both online and in-store, across participating markets. A study to assess the collaboration's potential is underway and is expected to conclude by the end of summer 2025. The agreement will initially span 15 European countries. Users will be able to use their preferred digital payment solutions locally and across Europe, with provisions for markets lacking such systems. Interconnecting existing payment solutions is viewed as a quick way to achieve European sovereignty in payments, a goal shared by the European Commission and Eurosystem. EuroPA, the European Payments Alliance, unites major mobile payment providers in their markets. It focuses on creating a strong pan-European payments market through interoperability, using SEPA instant payment standards. Since March 2025, Bancomat, Bizum, and MB WAY/SIBS have enabled over 50 million users in Andorra, Italy, Portugal, and Spain—backed by 186 financial institutions—to transfer money instantly. New members Blik (Poland), IRIS (Greece), and Vipps MobilePay (Nordic countries) have joined, with integration planned, expanding EuroPA to over 100 million users in 10 countries. EPI, the European Payments Initiative, is supported by 16 European banks and payment providers. It aims to offer Wero, a unified mobile payment service, for retail transactions via a European digital wallet. "EuroPA and EPI collaborate to strengthen cross-border payments in Europe" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Finextra
24-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
EPI and EuroPA join forces in push for European payments sovereignty
The European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and European Payments Initiative (EPI) are joining forces to explore ways to make it easy for consumers to send and receive payments seamlessly across the continent. 0 The move signals an attempt to wrest control of the EU's payments ecosystem away from US card schemes and Big Tech giants and secure the Bloc's sovereignty in payments. Bank-backed EPI launched its Wero digital wallet late last year, harnessing the potential of account-to-account (A2A) payments to help European banks take on the might of Visa and Mastercard. EuroPA is an alliance established between Italy's Bancomat, Spanish scheme Bizum and Portugal's MB Way/Sibs designed to enable their 50 million users to send and receive money across borders instantly to mobile phone numbers. It has since added members, including Poland's Blik, Greece's Iris, and Nordic giant Vipps MobilePay. Now, EuroPA and EPI are investigating a joint offering that would combine their efforts to cover all use cases - person-to-person and commercial payments both online and in-store - across the markets of the participating services. A study is set to be completed by the end of the summer into an agreement that will initially cover 15 European countries, collectively representing over 382 million inhabitants (84% of the EU population and Norway), enabling them to continue using their preferred digital payment options both locally and across Europe. The two bodies argue that interconnecting existing systems is a "rapid path forward to European [payments] sovereignty and independence," something which BNP Paribas COO Thierry Laborde recently warned is "no longer a future ambition, it is a European necessity".
Local Spain
12-06-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Spanish banks to allow Bizum instant payments to other European countries
Banco Santander has become the first financial institution in Spain to offer Bizum payments to other European countries. The news is a step forward for digital banking in Spain, allowing people to be more financially connected with the rest of Europe. The system is based on technical connectivity enabled by the European Payments Initiative (EuroPA), which seeks to unify payment services across Europe. Following successful pilot tests, this connectivity is now a reality, and new countries and banking institutions are expected to join the network in the coming months. Thanks to the interconnection of the mobile payment platforms, Bizum customers will now be able to connect with Bancomat in Italy and MB WAY in Portugal. According to the bank, it will connect 50 million users and 186 financial institutions, which is first step while awaiting a single European solution, for which no agreement has yet been reached. This means that Santander customers will be able to send and receive money instantly from and to users in these two countries, as well as in Andorra. It will be carried out in the same way as it is in Spain, by selecting a contact in your address book via a phone number, without having to enter an IBAN or use bank cards. Although Santander is the first bank to join, it is set to be rolled out very soon by several other banks in the country. Abanca, OpenBank, CaixaBank, BBVA, and Banco Sabadell are all expected to implement this service by the second quarter of 2025. While Europe continues its search for a single solution to transfers between countries, these platforms have taken the issue into their own hands, thanks to the EuroPA initiative. The hope is that Europe will adopt this method using the existing infrastructure in the future. Bizum is a Spanish mobile service that allows users to send an amount of money that usually ranges between 50 cents and €500. It enables you to make payments or request money from a phone number, if you have a Spanish account number from a bank linked to it, and now an Italian, Portuguese or Andorran one too. It's a free app service which was launched by Spain's main banks in 2016 as a way of competing with other mobile payment services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Paypal and others. Bizum has over 20 million users in Spain and is how many Spaniards choose to split the bill, pay small amounts for services and even pay their rent.
