European Software & Payments: Takeaways from Money20/20

Research evidence excerpt

European Software & Payments: Takeaways from Money20/20

l services and

to charities, with wider expansion into subscriptions and ecommerce planned.

•• EPI and partners discuss interoperability and sovereignty: The European Payments

Initiative also attended the conference. The EPI is a project backed by European financial

institutions to build a unified European payment network and reduce heavy reliance on non-

European payments companies. It spoke about further progress on creating interoperable

capabilities between different local payment methods within Europe, following the signing of

an MoU in February with Bancomat in Italy, SIBS in Portugal, Bizum in Spain and Vipps in the

Nordics. The aim of the partnership is to enable seamless cross-border payments in Europe

using local payment methods in 2027. The wider discussion highlighted growing concerns

about European payments sovereignty as well as doubts about the ability of card schemes to

suit modern consumer behaviour. In a separate session, Mastercard itself acknowledged

growing competition from alternative payment methods on the clearing and settlement side.

•• Wero positioned as a unique wallet-scheme combination: The EPI also spoke more

generally about Wero, its own instant A2A digital wallet and payment service, with the CEO

highlighting that over 45m users are now active in the solution, with further growth expected

from expansion into the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and plans to focus on e-commerce

and eventually POS payments in addition to current A2A payments. Wero was positioned as

being a unique stakeholder due to its function as both an alternative to card schemes and a

wallet, with management highlighting future benefits of this over using cards, including