European payment alternatives

Every time you tap your card in Europe, the transaction probably routes through Visa or Mastercard — two American companies that take a cut of trillions of euros in European retail spending each year. The card networks themselves are critical infrastructure. Europe doesn't have its own.

Or rather: it has lots. National schemes that dominate inside their borders — Swish in Sweden, MobilePay in Denmark, BLIK in Poland, iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bizum in Spain, Twint in Switzerland. They work brilliantly at home, but stop the moment you cross a border. SEPA Instant Credit Transfer is the EU-wide rail underneath, but consumer-facing it's still mostly invisible.

The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is a consortium of major European banks — including Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, ING, and others — formed in 2020 to create a genuine pan-European alternative to Visa and Mastercard. The goal: a single wallet and payment solution that works across Europe, owned and operated by Europeans. EPI launched its consumer product, Wero, in 2024. Built on SEPA Instant, Wero enables real-time account-to-account payments without routing through US card networks. It currently operates in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, with more countries planned. The initiative is backed by 14 banks representing a large share of European retail banking.

Below: five European payment systems and initiatives — the ones with genuine cross-border reach or active expansion plans.