Wero (payment)

Wero is an european mobile payment system intended to replace Giropay. The service was launched in July 2, 2024 by the European Payments Initiative. The service has the goal to being a competitor for PayPal and similar services, but from the beginning as a real-time payment system and later with extended online payment function.

The name is made up of English we(we) and Euro, but is also based on Italian vero (true).

Background
Giropay had a market share of 0.4 percent in 2023 and is no longer expected to be profitable due to high fixed costs. It was decided to discontinue the payment service together with the provider Paydirekt at the end of 2024 and to gradually build up the new payment service in several stages.

The aim of EPI's project is to achieve greater independence from the market power of American payment service providers. According to the management consultancy Capco, wero's market entry may come too late for many, but the train has "not yet completely left the station, but is already in motion." The Center for Financial Studies believes that the end of 2021 will be the "last opportunity for Europe to establish a payment system that can keep up with global competition" (especially against US competitors).

Planned functions
One flaw of the old payment service was the complicated and time-consuming setup for customers and merchants alike. Wero is supposed to be linked to the user's current account and can be used immediately without setup.

EPI, to which 16 of the original 32 financial service providers still belong, launched a pilot operation between Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and the French Banque Populaire in December 2023 based on the fully developed SCT-Inst SEPA payment solution. Paydirekt accounts are to be terminated at the end of 2024.

EPI wants to start the "digital wallet" wero with mobile-to-mobile payments in Belgium, Germany and France and offer its own app so that, according to the provider, almost all bank customers in these countries will most likely be able to use wero. It should be comparable to Twint (Switzerland) and MobilePay (Denmark).

In Germany, Sparkassen, Postbank, Deutsche Bank and ING want to make a start. EPI member banks also want to implement the services in their own apps based on SEPA and on the basis of the mobile phone numbers registered with the banks, including Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.

In the Netherlands, the central bank has made success a condition for the migration of iDEAL to the European platform.

By mid-2025, payment in online stores should be possible and thus compete with PayPal and credit cards. The final step planned is the integration of stationary payment at the checkout.

Other countries
Other banks that want to offer the service are Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Postbank (Germany), BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Groupe Banque Populaire and Worldline (France), ING (Netherlands) and Nexi (Italy). Further banks are to follow.