# Wero / EPI
> Wero — the unified European wallet of the European Payments Initiative
A European payment wallet launched in 2024 by EPI (European Payments Initiative), a consortium of 16 European banks (BNP, SG, BPCE, Crédit Mutuel, ING, Deutsche Bank, etc.). The ambition: a sovereign alternative to Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Apple Pay, built on SEPA Instant.
_Category: acteur_
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## Definition
**Wero** is the European payment wallet launched in July 2024 by EPI (_European Payments Initiative_), a consortium of 16 major banks.
Its ambition: to offer a sovereign alternative to Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Apple Pay, built on the SEPA Instant rail rather than the American card networks. It is a bank-based wallet — the balance is that of the account, payments are free SCT Inst transfers executed in under 10 seconds, and the identifier is an alias (mobile, email) resolved into an IBAN. The project is led by the banks with the implicit backing of the ECB and the Commission, against a backdrop of European payments sovereignty.
## History and roll-out
- **2020** — EPI's initial launch (card scheme + wallet), abandoned at the end of 2021.
- **2022** — EPI is reborn on SEPA Instant + P2P + e-commerce (acquiring the iDEAL and Payconiq assets).
- **July 2024** — P2P launch in Germany, France and Belgium.
- **End of 2024** — Netherlands, Luxembourg.
- **2025-2026** — extension to e-commerce and merchant Request to Pay.
- **2027+** — in-store payment (NFC or QR) and embedded.
## Technical architecture
```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
autonumber
participant Alice
participant AliceApp as Bank app
(Wero embedded)
participant Wero as Wero
(EPI orchestrator)
participant Bob
participant BobApp as Bob's bank app
Note over Alice,BobApp: P2P (sending to a mobile alias)
Alice->>AliceApp: 1. Send €50 to +33 6 12 34
AliceApp->>Wero: 2. Alias lookup (PAO)
Wero-->>AliceApp: 3. Bob's IBAN + name (VoP)
AliceApp->>AliceApp: 4. Displays "Bob D., €50"
Alice->>AliceApp: 5. Confirms + SCA
AliceApp->>Wero: 6. SCT Inst payment request
Wero->>BobApp: 7. Notification "Alice is sending €50"
AliceApp-->>BobApp: 8. SCT Inst (via TIPS / RT1 clearing)
BobApp-->>Bob: 9. Instant credit + notification
```
Components: an alias system (mobile, email) managed by EPI, routing between banking apps, SCT Inst clearing (TIPS or RT1), an integrated VoP that displays the name before sending, all based on ISO 20022 and the SEPA Request-to-Pay scheme.
## Use cases
- **P2P** (2024): sending money to someone by mobile number — a competitor to Lydia, PayPal, Twint and Bizum.
- **E-commerce** (2025-2026): a "Pay with Wero" button, an irrevocable SCT Inst with no chargeback, with an expected merchant cost of 0.2 to 0.5%.
- **In-store** (2026+): NFC or QR in shops, against Apple Pay, Google Pay and cards.
- **Embedded / B2B**: salaries, benefits, e-government.
## Founding banks
France (BNP Paribas, BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, La Banque Postale, Société Générale), Germany (Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, Sparkassen, Postbank), Belgium (Belfius, KBC, ING Belgium) and the Netherlands (ING, Rabobank, ABN Amro), with a gradual extension to Portugal, Spain and Austria.
## Strengths and challenges
Strengths: sovereignty (data and payments stay in the EU), near-zero cost (SCT Inst), integrated VoP and strong bank-based SCA, no chargebacks on the merchant side, and universality (any holder of a participating SEPA account can receive).
Challenges: reaching critical mass (the network effect), matching the smoothness of Apple Pay, integrating around twenty banking apps of varying quality, and dislodging already-established players (Apple, Google, PayPal).
## Wero vs alternatives
| Player | Type | Merchant cost | EU sovereignty |
|--------|------|---------------|-----------------|
| Wero / EPI | SEPA bank-based wallet | ~0.2-0.5% expected | Yes |
| Apple Pay | Card token on a device | On top of card fees | No |
| PayPal | Third-party wallet | 2.5-3.4% | No |
| CB cards | French card network | 0.5-1.5% | Partial |
| Bizum / iDEAL | National bank-based wallets | 0-0.5% | Yes (national) |
## What Wero is not
- **Not a card**: EPI's original card scheme was abandoned in 2021.
- **Not a private fintech**: it is a banking consortium (EPI Company, in Belgium).
- **Not a card wallet**: it does not carry Visa/MC cards, it is a SEPA Instant transfer wallet.
- **Not crypto**: no blockchain, just conventional SEPA.
- **Not deployed everywhere**: a country-by-country roll-out.
## Within the PSD2 / Open Finance ecosystem
Wero embodies Europe's sovereign strategy: it benefits from the Instant Payments Regulation (VoP, SCT Inst at the price of a standard transfer), could converge with the EUDI Wallet (identity + payment) and be enriched with FIDA data to become a super-app. Above all, it is the first mass consumer use of SCT Inst.
## Real-world examples
- **Adoption**: several million downloads within a few months, mainly replacing Paylib (FR) and Payconiq (BE).
- **Paylib**: the former French bank wallet, gradually folded into Wero (replaced at the end of 2025).
- **iDEAL (NL)**: Wero takes over its P2P function, with iDEAL e-commerce remaining active during the migration.
- **Bizum (ES)**: outside EPI, the Spanish (P2P) alternative launched in 2016, hugely successful (~30m users).
- **Pix comparison**: Wero aims for a similar model (banks + alias + central bank), with around an 8-year lag.
- **2025 merchant pilots**: Carrefour, Lidl, Decathlon and Galeries Lafayette for the e-commerce button, with NFC tests in 2026.
- **iOS NFC**: following the 2024 EU decision (DMA), Apple opened up NFC to third-party wallets — Wero will be able to deploy there from the end of 2025.
## Sources
- [EPI launches Wero, its digital payment wallet in Germany](https://wero-wallet.eu/news/press-release-wero-in-germany) — European Payments Initiative, 2024-07-02
- [EPI launches digital wallet solution Wero in Germany](https://www.fintechfutures.com/2024/07/epi-launches-digital-wallet-solution-wero-in-germany/) — FinTech Futures, 2024-07-03
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Source: https://openfinanceguide.com/en/glossary/wero-epi