EuroPA, EPI Sign MoU to Accelerate Rollout of Pan-European Payment Solutions

On Monday 2 February 2026, Bancomat, Bizum, SIBS-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay (all members of the EuroPA Alliance) and EPI Company jointly announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening Europe's payment sovereignty.

The cooperation brings together leading European payment solutions, with the shared ambition of enabling seamless cross-border payments across Europe by 2027.

This MoU is described as "a critical milestone" for Europe's strategic autonomy in payments. At a time when Europe remains "highly dependent" on non-European players, this industry-led initiative reportedly demonstrates that European banks and payment service providers have both the infrastructure and the scale to deliver a concrete alternative rapidly. The cooperation builds on the success of existing solutions, connecting them via a central hub to create a pan-European experience for cross-border payments.

The cooperation brings together solutions that currently serve approximately 130 million users, covering both consumers and merchants operating across borders.

At launch, the initiative will span thirteen European countries (including Luxembourg, alongside Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden), collectively already covering around 72% of the population of the European Union and Norway.

The coalition is open to all European countries, including Switzerland and other non-euro markets; markets that have already developed a domestic solution may join directly, while those without a domestic solution may implement one of the solutions already available within the initiative.

The signature of this MoU marks the completion of the feasibility phase, with the solutions now transitioning towards the implementation phase of the project.

According to the project partners, European consumers will continue using their current preferred solution, now with broader European reach, benefiting from a user experience consistent with what they are accustomed to at home. Merchants will be able to accept payments from European consumers using a European solution, reducing dependency on international players. The solutions will develop a new branding badge alongside their existing brands, enabling consumers to recognise where their preferred solutions will be accepted beyond current markets.

The cooperation is based on a central interoperability hub, operated by a future central entity jointly established by the partners. The central hub will act as a technical layer, enabling transactions to "flow seamlessly" between existing pan-European and national solutions, based on European standards and infrastructures, including instant account-to-account payments. Existing payment solutions will remain unchanged, preserving their brands, user experience and features.

Following the MoU, the partners will establish the central interoperability entity by the first half of 2026, start preparing the technical implementation of the target set-up and conduct proof‑of‑concepts (PoCs) in parallel.

Coverage of all use cases is intended by 2027 through a phased rollout: in 2026, rollout of peer-to-peer (P2P) cross-border payments; in 2027, rollout of e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) payments.

According to the partners, this initiative will ensure "a scalable, sovereign European payment solution, driving innovation, convenience and efficiency for both consumers and merchants".

Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI, stated: "This agreement demonstrates that Europe's payment sovereignty is not a vision, but a reality in the making. Solutions like Wero already exist and are live in several countries. By connecting them through interoperability with our partners, we are laying the foundations for a truly European payment ecosystem, built on solutions that are already live and trusted by users."

EPI (or European Payments Initiative) is founded by sixteen European banks and payment service providers as shareholders. In addition, 41 institutions in Europe are members of EPI. Part of EPI's offering is Wero, a digital wallet solution that has been live for P2P payments in Belgium, France and Germany since 2024, currently serving 47 million users. Major migrations of at least fifteen million consumers are planned from Payconiq in Luxembourg by 2026 and from iDEAL in the Netherlands by 2027.

"This MoU is a major step toward a truly pan-European payments network. The direction is set and momentum is real. Together, we will deliver cross-border P2P, e-commerce and POS payments at scale...," said Fabrizio Burlando, CEO of Bancomat.

"Europe has the infrastructure, scale and vision needed to offer a sovereign, robust and reliable European alternative in the field of payments. [...]. With this agreement, we show that we are committed to continuing to work and ensure that more European citizens and merchants have access to trustworthy payment solutions that protect their data, something that can only be built through collective commitment," added Ángel Nigorra, Managing Director of Bizum.

"European payment sovereignty will be achieved by connecting trusted solutions like MB WAY and interoperability of European infrastructures. With MB WAY, we have shown that large scale, trusted, instant payment systems can be built in Europe and adopted by millions of users and merchants for in store, e-commerce and person-to-person payments...," said Teresa Mesquita, SIBS Executive Board Member and COO.

Rune Garborg, CEO of Vipps MobilePay, said his team was "proud to join this collaboration to connect Vipps and MobilePay with wallets in other European countries. If payments are truly going to be simple, sending money across borders must be just as easy as paying at home."