 | |
Type of site | Mobile payment |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | De Lignestraat 13, 1000Brussels, Belgium |
| Area served | Western Europe |
| Owner | EPI Company SE |
| URL | wero-wallet |
| Launched | 2024 |
| Native client(s) on | iOS,Android |
Wero is a Europeanmobile payment system that is intended to replaceGiropay in Germany,Paylib [fr] in France,[1]Payconiq in Belgium[2] and Luxembourg,[3] andiDEAL in the Netherlands.[4] The service was launched on 2 July 2024 by theEuropean Payments Initiative.[5] The service competes withPayPal,credit cards and similar services. It started as a real-time payment system in 2024, and from fall 2025 extended online payment functions were added on a step-by-step basis.
The name is aportmanteau made up of the Englishpersonal pronounwe and the name of theEuropean Union's common currency, theEuro, but is also based on theItalian wordvero, meaningtrue.[6]
The aim of EPI's project is to achieve greater independence from the market power of American payment service providers. According to the management consultancy Capco, EPI's market entry may come too late for many, but the train has "not yet completely left the station, but is already in motion".[7] The Center for Financial Studies believes that the end of 2021 will be the "last opportunity for Europe to establish a payment system that can keep up with global competition" (especially against US competitors). During 2020 and 2021 several attempts were made to initiate the creation of a European-based payment system that could rival card based payment solutions ofVisa andMastercard.
After 20 banks fromPoland,Spain, Germany andFinland had withdrawn from the project in end of 2021, the remaining 13 banks pivoted the project towards a payment solution based on a digital wallet.[8]
EPI announced it wanted to start the "digital wallet" with mobile-to-mobile payments in Belgium, Germany and France. By offering its own app, according to the provider, almost all bank customers in these countries will most likely be able to use Wero. It should become comparable to Twint (Switzerland) andMobilePay (Denmark).
On 25 April, EPI announced that its shareholders confirmed the development (and launch) of the wallet based payment solution.[9] Several European institutions, among them European Central Bank, welcomed the initiative.[10]
On 21 September 2023, EPI selected the nameWero for its upcoming payment service.[11]
In December 2023, EPI launched a pilot operation between GermanSparkasse Elbe-Elster and the FrenchBanque Populaire, based on the fully-developed SCT-Inst SEPA payment solution.
![Text: 10 Sekunden reichen nicht, um einen Bembel zu leeren. Aber mit Wero kannst du in 10 Sekunden von Konto zu Konto Geld senden und empfangen. (Translation: 10 seconds is not enough to empty a bembel. But with Wero you can send and receive money from account to account in 10 seconds). [Illustration of two phones with a rocket flying between them, one phone with the balance of minus €20 and the other €20 plus, logo of Wero, logos of supported banks, and download badges for Google Play and Apple App Store]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWero-ffm-hbf.jpg)
On 2 July 2024, Wero was launched in Germany, with two German banks going live with the service.[5] On 30 September 2024, Wero was launched in France.[12] On 19 November 2024, Wero was launched in Belgium.[13] As of November 2024, the service counts 14 million users and 8 million transactions were made.[14]
In December 2024, a first Wero e-commerce payment transaction was performed in a pilot setting.[15] The next countries to follow will be Luxembourg and the Netherlands.[16]
In February 2025, the German branch of Italian payment service providerNexi announced that it signed a contract with EPI that would allow its merchants to accept Wero for online commerce.[17] In May 2025, Canadian payment service providerNuvei also announced that its clients would be able to use Wero for e-commerce businesses.[18] French payment service providersWorldline announced that it would enable its merchants to use Wero in online commerce, starting in summer 2025 in Germany.[19] German payment companyUnzer announced that Wero would be accessible on its platform UnzerOne.[20]
In June 2025, British fintech companyRevolut joined the EPI and would provide Wero to its clients in selected European countries.[21]In mid-June 2025, five Luxembourgish banks (Banque Internationale à Luxembourg,Banque Raiffeisen,Post Luxembourg,BGL BNP Paribas andSpuerkeess) joined theEuropean Payments Initiative (EPI) to enable their clients to use Wero,[22][23]In July 2025, five Belgian banks (Argenta,Bank van Breda,Beobank,Crelan andvdk bank) also joined theEuropean Payments Initiative (EPI) in order to enable their customers to use Wero.[24]
In September 2025,EuroPA (European Payments Alliance) and EPI (EPI Company) confirm commitment to expand sovereign pan-European payments with a hub model. Intend is to interconnect their respective solutions through a central technical hub, based on European standards and infrastructure with a hub that will enable over 120 million combined customers of the participating solutions to offer day-to-day, instant cross-border payments across the different use cases.[25]
On November 4, the first online retailer started offering Wero as a payment method.[26][27]
A user can associate a phone number to their bank account, with a maximum of three phone numbers per bank account. A person can make a bank transfer to another person's bank account, using their phone number instead of theirIBAN.
A user can create a QR code, by selecting the bank account and specifying the requested amount in Euros. A person can make a bank transfer by scanning the QR code, selecting their bank account and approving the transaction.
A user can send a payment request to a person, by selecting the bank account, specifying the requested amount in Euros and selecting a person that should receive the payment request. The person receiving a payment request is notified of an incoming payment request. The person can decline the payment request. The person can also accept the payment request by selecting the bank account and approving the payment. If the person does not respond, a payment request expires after 30 days.
A business user can send a Wero-PRO payment request to a person, with additional features compared to a regular P2P Payment request: 1) A invoice in PDF format can be attached to the payment request, 2) a additional reference for accounting purposes can be added to a payment request, 3) an automatic reminder after 3, 7, 14 or 28 days can be scheduled to be sent to none paid payment requests, 4) the business user is displayed with the label "PRO" in the contactlists of other Wero users.[28][29]
One time paymentAn online retailer can let it's customer pay via Wero. After selecting Wero as the payment method, the customer can scan the QR code displayed on the payment page and confirm the payment. The online retailer is notified about the confirmation.
Wallet IDThe online retailer is also provided a unique token for that customer to be stored in the account of the customer at the online retailers platform, so it can offer an enhanced user experience at the next purchase. The online retailer can trigger a pop-up notification on the customers smart phone, in stead of displaying a QR code. This works with a token on the online retailers platform and not with a cookie on the customers device to enable it regardless the device a customer is using.
EPI announced in July 2024 that it will extend Wero's offering to online and mobile shopping payments (in 2025) and then NFC enabled point-of-sale payments (2026). An additional comprehensive range of transaction types is planned to be supported later, including one-off payments,subscriptions,installments, payments upon delivery and reservations. Additionally, value-added services will be incorporated into the solution over time, including responsible "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) financing, digital identity features and integration of merchant loyalty programmes.[9]To enhance consumer trust, the European Payments Initiative will incorporate strong consumer protection within Wero, including structured mechanisms for pre-dispute resolution, disputes, andchargebacks.[30]
The majority of participating banks in France have launched Wero by the end of 2024, withLa Banque postale using theEPI app instead of its own.
Other banks that want to offer the service as of September 2024 are ING (Netherlands) and the payment service providersWorldline (France) andNexi (Italy). Other banks and service providers are set to follow.[citation needed]
