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Digital, Innovation, Payments

Europe’s payment initiatives join forces to accelerate a sovereign pan-European solution

Published on 02 February 2026

Europe’s leading payment initiatives have just announced a major step towards payment sovereignty and interoperability at scale. Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY, Vipps MobilePay and the European Payments Initiative (EPI), which develops Wero, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate cooperation and enable seamless cross-border payments across Europe by 2027. This industry-led agreement sends a strong signal: Europe’s private payment actors are aligning to reduce reliance on non-European infrastructures and to deliver a trusted European alternative for consumers and merchants.

Summary

    This Memorandum of Understanding is a major step for European sovereignty in payments. It demonstrates how Europe’s banking and payment actors can join forces to build trusted, interoperable solutions at scale.

    Ananda Kautz

    Member of the Management Board of the ABBL

    A milestone based on interoperability, not replacement

    The project is built on a clear principle: interoperability rather than substitution.

    Consumers will continue using their preferred domestic payment solutions, while benefiting from broader European reach through a shared interoperability hub connecting existing schemes.

    This approach preserves trusted user experiences while strengthening Europe’s capacity to deliver cross-border payments efficiently.

    Immediate critical mass across Europe

    The cooperation already represents around 130 million users across 13 countries, covering more than 70% of the EU and Norway’s population.

    By connecting solutions that are already widely adopted, the initiative can deliver immediate value at scale for both households and merchants operating across borders.

    A clear roadmap towards full European coverage

    The agreement outlines a phased rollout:

    • 2026: cross-border peer-to-peer (P2P) payments
    • 2027: expansion to e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) payments

    The objective is to ensure coverage of all key retail payment use cases through a European framework grounded in existing infrastructure and standards.

    Luxembourg perspective: Wero expected from 2026

    For Luxembourg, this momentum is particularly relevant, as Wero is expected to be rolled out from 2026, connecting Luxembourg users and merchants to this wider European network.

    ABBL welcomes a strong industry-led signal

    The ABBL welcomes this important milestone towards sovereign, efficient and interoperable European payment solutions, developed by and for Europe.

    Full announcement from EPI and EuroPA members is available here.

    Ananda Kautz

    Ananda Kautz

    Member of the Management Board of the ABBL

    Published on 02 February 2026

    See all articles by Ananda Kautz