European Payments Initiative

The European Payments Initiative (EPI), previously known as the Pan-European Payments System Initiative (PEPSI), is a unified digital payment service backed by 16 European banks and payment service providers. Its aim is to allow European consumers and merchants to make next-generation payments for all types of person-to-person transfers and retail transactions via a digital wallet, called Wero. Wero is based on instant account-to-account payments and will eliminate intermediaries in the payment chain and associated costs.

It is supported by the European Commission, and currently comprises fourteen major European banks and two acquirers (including all the major French banks, Deutsche Bank in Germany.

First attempt
The idea of introducing a pan-European card scheme within the Single Euro Payments Area was born around 2008. In 2010, major European banks from more than ten countries met at the "Madrid Symposium" to discuss the initiative and make plans to take it forward. By 2011, the Monnet Project had developed detailed technical and business plans for the merger of national payment schemes. By then, it included 24 banks drawn from seven countries. However, the proponents of the new system did not believe they could develop a viable business model that did not include commercially viable interchange fees for the participating banks, a concern they raised with the European Commission. The commission was unwilling to allow any movement that could erode free competition, and therefore refused to endorse any system, even a new entrant, with interchange fees that exceeded the low level that the commission was seeking.

Commercial interests prevailing over a pan-European solution, and in the absence of a clear source of income for the issuing banks, progress on the project was put to a halt. It was dissolved in April 2012 due to "the perceived absence of a viable business model", according to the European Central Bank.

Partnerships
In July 2020, a group of 16 major European banks from five countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) announced their support and development programs for the European Payments Initiative (EPI). These banks include: BBVA, BNP Paribas, Groupe BPCE, CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, Deutsche Bank, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, DZ Bank, ING, KBC Group, La Banque Postale, Banco Santander, Société Générale and UniCredit. In 2021 more than 30 banks were member, including Bancontact/Payconiq. In mid-2020, it was expected that the first real-world applications - a system for real-time payments between consumers - could be launched in early 2022, with a broader payments tool to follow in the second half of 2022.

Infrastructure
As it is based on the SEPA instant credit transfer (SCT Inst) scheme, EPI's payment network can immediately capitalise on powerful and sophisticated existing infrastructures, such as the Eurosystem's TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS). The EPI will have a payment network, a wallet, and an international instant payments scheme as a replacement for domestic solutions such as Swish, iDEAL, Bizum and Blik. NFC payments and QR code payment will be made available. The solution will be available through mobile banking integration, but also as a standalone app, and will contain currency conversion throughout the whole of Europe. The first countries where this will be implemented are Belgium, France and Germany.

Acquisition iDEAL & Payconiq
EPI Company has acquired iDEAL and Payconiq International. EPI will initially enable person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-professional (P2Pro) payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. A comprehensive range of transaction types will be supported, including one-off payments, subscriptions, installments, payments upon delivery and reservations. Additionally, value-added services will be incorporated into the solution over time, including responsible ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) financing, digital identity features and integration of merchant loyalty programmes.

The European Payments Initiative (EPI) has launch under the name 'Wero' in France, Germany and Belgium in July 2nd of 2024, followed by the Netherlands. The rest of Europe will follow in subsequent years.