EU Launches Sovereign Instant Payment System Wero

TapTechNews July 3rd news, the European Payments Initiative organization EPI announced yesterday the launch of the EU sovereign instant payment system wero, which is initially open to customers of Volksbanken and Sparkassen banks in Germany first (TapTechNews note: Volksbank).

The European Payments Initiative organization is composed of 14 European banks and 2 payment service providers, aiming to strengthen European financial independence. Through a single payment system integrated in the mobile applications of member banks, it provides unified digital payment services for all European enterprises and citizens.

The wero system allows consumers to implement domestic and cross-border transactions within 10 seconds using a phone number, personal e-mail address or generated QR code, without the need to use an intermediary account or the cumbersome 22-digit IBAN international bank account number.

Deutsche Bank will join the wero system later this year; Belgian KBC Bank will become the first non-German bank to support the wero system by the end of July; and the service of the wero system in France will be officially launched in September-October after the summer test.

Ultimately, all banks within the European Payments Initiative organization will support wero within six months.

In terms of functions, the wero system initially only supports ordinary individual to ordinary individual remittances; in 2025, it will support payments to professional individuals and businesses; and in 2026, it will acquire a series of functions including in-store payment at the cashier and pay-after-use.