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European efforts to reduce payment provider dominance
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2026-10-05 05:15 UTC → 2026-10-05 18:31 UTC ·
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Visa and Mastercard maintain a dominant position in the European payment landscape, with reported turnovers of 40 billion dollars and 32.8 billion dollars respectively in 2025. In response to this dominance, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) has been expanding its Wero service, moving from peer-to-peer payments into the merchant market for online sales with support from corporations like Decathlon and Air France KLM. Efforts to establish economic sovereignty have intensified with the founding of the European Network for Payments (ENP). Headquartered in Madrid, the ENP is a joint venture owned by Bizum, Epi/Wero, Sibs, Vipps, and Bancomat. The network aims to reduce reliance on US-based providers like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal by creating a unified infrastructure for approximately 130 million users across 13 countries. This user base represents roughly 70% of the population in the EU and Norway. The ENP intends to provide cross-border interoperability similar to mobile data roaming. While the initial rollout focuses on peer-to-peer transfers, the group expects cross-border capabilities by 2026 and full interoperability for in-store and online shopping by the end of 2027. The initiative is also testing a virtual card application to compete with major tech platforms such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
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- 2026-10-05 18:31 UTC European efforts to reduce payment provider dominance
- 2026-10-05 05:15 UTC European efforts to reduce payment provider dominance
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