Wero could transform Europe’s payments landscape in the same way that Pix has reshaped Brazil’s

The European Union is marching towards a more harmonised economy.

Whether it’s the new 28th Regime, aimed at creating an ‘EU Inc’ company structure to simplify the incorporation process for innovative enterprises, or the impending implementation of the new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), efforts are underway to bring more cohesiveness to the bloc.

But when it comes to payments, fragmentation remains. Althoughcross-border transactions across the continent are expected to rise by 58% by 2028, payment preferences are diverse. Some countries still rely heavily on cards, while others are embracing digital wallets and a plethora of alternative payment methods (APMs).

To address this lack of interoperability, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) conceived Wero, an account-to-account (A2A) payment solution designed to simplify digital transactions across multiple member states. By introducing a unified, instant, and bank-backed digital wallet, Wero has the potential to transform Europe’s payments landscape like Pix did in Brazil.

This week at Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) Berlin, I hosted a merchant-only workshop together with Alfredo Prieto Rodrigo from EPI to discuss what Wero means in practice.

Momentum is snowballing, and as developments gather pace, merchants operating across Europe must quickly become familiar with Wero – and the new avenues for growth it’s opening up.

Preparing for payments sovereignty

Wero is much more than just another APM. It’s a play towards payments sovereignty, in much the same way Pix aimed to reduce the dominance of international card networks in Brazil.

It provides a standardised European alternative to the US-based card networks and payment giants, using A2A technology running on the SEPA network to settle payments in seconds, bypassing cards and intermediaries.

The EPI is backed by 50 European banks and financial institutions – ranging from incumbents like BNP Paribas to challengers like Revolut – and seeks to establish Wero as the leading method for online and in-person payments. It’s therefore imperative for merchants to start thinking about how they can include it as a payment option at their checkout.

Wero established its presence through peer-to-peer (P2P) payments across Belgium, France, and Germany. The service enabled users to send and receive money instantly between bank accounts using just a phone number or a QR code, and – according to the EPI’s figures – it enrolled 53.5 million new users last year, settling 124 million P2P transactions.

Rather than starting from scratch, the EPI is executing a strategic migration by absorbing established national schemes such as Paylib in France, iDEAL in the Netherlands, and Payconiq in Belgium. As 2026 progresses, Wero will be extending deeper into merchant payments – as well as markets.

Mapping out merchant use cases

In November 2025, Europe’s largest ticketing provider, CTS Eventim, became the first major e-commerce company in Germany to integrate the Wero wallet. Many others will follow its lead, with the first wave of licensed EPI members – including payabl. – having already integrated Wero, allowing merchants to offer it as a payment option for customers.

The EPI has plotted out an extensive roadmap that merchants should keep a close eye on. Features scheduled for the coming months and years include support for subscription management, instalments (BNPL options), instant refunds, and loyalty programmes.

Subscription payments is a particularly compelling use case, with many believing Wero will transform them from a liability into a competitive advantage.

Merchants will soon be able to set up subscriptions without complicated mandate processes by offering Wero’s one-click proposition; customers simply scan a QR code to instantly activate their subscriptions. And real-time authorisation will ensure merchants know immediately whether the payment will succeed, unlike the delayed failures that plagued SEPA Direct Debit.

Wero will also be implementing NFC-enabled point-of-sale (POS) payments later this year, which will drive contactless, in-person payments at stores across Europe. Like other Wero services, NFC POS payments will use instant A2A transfers, meaning that money flows directly from the consumer’s bank account to the merchant’s.

Preparing for a deeper penetration into European markets

As well as widening its footprint across payments capabilities, Wero is strengthening its grip on the countries that it serves. It has already replaced Paylib in France, and a dedicated Wero app is now available from many of the country’s banks.

Most of Belgium’s leading banks – including Argenta and Beobank – will be rolling out Wero to their customers this year, amplifying the service’s coverage across the country. Neobanks are also getting involved, with N26 planning to launch integration for users across Germany, France, and the Netherlands in the second half of this year.

Speaking of the Netherlands, there is a mandatory requirement for merchants to update the iDEAL logo to the new combined iDEAL | Wero logo across their online stores and payment pages by 31 March 2026. This co-branding phase will help consumers become familiar with the Wero name, but eventually, by late 2027, Wero will be the only name they see.

Withnearly 100% reach among Dutch consumers, iDEAL facilitates more than 1.5 billion transactions annually, accounting for approximately 72% of Dutch e-commerce transactions. This gives an idea of the immediate market share that Wero will capture, with similar scenarios repeated across other markets. In France, for example, Paylib had between 35 and 40 million registered users, representing around 40% of French mobile payment users.

Luxembourg, meanwhile, has ramped up preparations for Wero’s rollout after the portfolio of business customers directly connected to Payconiq International was transferred to Buckaroo. This transfer marked the operational beginnings of a strategic partnership between the EPI, Buckaroo, and Payconiq International to position Wero as a primary payment method from later this year.

Through its carefully considered rollout, the EPI is marrying Wero’s new name with the convenience, speed, and security that customers across Europe have come to associate with the APMs they’ve been using, while also introducing new functionalities.

Wero marks the start of a new payments era – one which will see Europe setting a new benchmark for seamless, secure, and inclusive commerce. There are profound parallels with Pix’s role in fostering financial inclusion and payments modernisation in Brazil, and we can expect Wero to be equally transformative.

If they aren’t already, merchants should be working with their payments partners to ensure they’re ready for this new era.