The European Payments Initiative has grown to 45 members and 52.5 million registered Wero users, up from 43.5 million in September 2025, as fears about potential US restrictions on European access to American payments infrastructure drive new interest in the pan-European payment platform.
EPI CEO Martina Weimert told Reuters on March 26 that merchants are actively preparing for the possibility that the Trump administration could restrict European access to US-controlled financial systems. When asked whether merchants were making contingency plans, Weimert responded "absolutely" and said two major retailers had cited international resilience as their primary motivation for adopting Wero. "It's not like this is out of the blue, totally vague scenario," Weimert said, adding that such disruptions could materialize quickly.
The Brussels-based company, founded in 2020 by 16 European banks including BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, has nearly tripled its organizational membership to 45. Recent additions include Worldpay (which joined as a Principal Member on March 24), Mollie, and N26, reflecting broadening interest beyond traditional banking institutions into payment processors and fintechs. More than 1,100 financial institutions now participate in the Wero network across its active markets.
Wero currently processes person-to-person transfers and e-commerce payments in Germany and Belgium, with France expected to follow in the first half of 2026. The platform was conceived as a European-owned alternative to Visa, Mastercard, and Apple Pay, which together control the majority of in-store card payments across the eurozone. While Wero's current transaction volumes remain a fraction of total European card volumes, the accelerating membership growth and user adoption suggest the sovereignty argument is gaining traction at the merchant level rather than remaining confined to policy discussions.
Weimert also addressed the European Central Bank's planned digital euro, targeted for a 2029 launch. She said she sees the digital euro not as competition but as something that could be integrated into Wero's digital wallet. She expressed concern, however, about whether the digital euro would arrive soon enough given the pace of geopolitical shifts. A five-year wait may leave a gap that private-sector solutions need to fill, particularly as the current US administration's unpredictability adds urgency to European financial infrastructure independence.
EPI's expansion plans for 2026 include launching in Luxembourg from June and the Netherlands, where the iDEAL-to-Wero migration is underway with a mandatory co-branding deadline of March 31. NFC-enabled point-of-sale payments are planned for the second half of 2026, with Germany expected to be the first POS market. The EuroPA alliance, formed through agreements with Bizum, Bancomat Pay, SIBS/MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay, aims to extend interoperability to approximately 130 million users across 13 European countries.
Fragmentation remains a structural challenge. Spain and Italy maintain separate national payment systems that are connected to EPI through memoranda of understanding rather than direct integration. Whether Bizum and Bancomat Pay complete full migration to Wero or remain as loosely affiliated partners will determine whether EPI achieves a truly unified European payment network. The key commercial test arrives in the second half of 2026, when POS payments launch and the Dutch iDEAL migration enters its technical routing phase subject to DNB approval.