Global Payments Inc. announced on 24 March 2026 that its Worldpay business has joined the European Payments Initiative as a Principal Member, enabling clients to begin offering Wero as a payment method over the coming months. The move brings one of the world's largest acquirers into the EPI consortium and significantly expands the potential merchant footprint for Europe's account-to-account payment alternative to card networks.
Worldpay processes payments for merchants across more than 175 countries. Its decision to join EPI at the highest membership tier signals growing commercial confidence in Wero as a viable checkout option beyond peer-to-peer transfers. Global Payments completed its acquisition of Worldpay in January 2026, and the EPI membership represents one of the combined entity's first strategic commitments in the European payments landscape.
Since launching in mid-2024 across Germany, France, and Belgium, Wero has registered more than 52 million consumers and is progressively rolling out support for online retail transactions through 2026. The platform runs on SEPA Instant Credit Transfer rails, enabling real-time transfers through phone numbers, QR codes, or in-app flows. Belgium became the second country to launch Wero e-commerce payments in March 2026, following Germany, when Worldline processed the first Belgian Wero online transaction on 3 March through a donation to the Flemish Red Cross.
Worldpay joins a growing roster of payment processors backing Wero's merchant distribution. Nuvei began processing live Wero e-commerce transactions in Germany in November 2025, and several other processors have signaled their intent to integrate the payment method. The addition of Worldpay is significant because of its sheer scale as an acquirer: retailers who already use Worldpay for card acceptance could add Wero with minimal integration effort, reducing the onboarding friction that has historically slowed adoption of alternative payment methods.
The EPI consortium now counts 16 European banks among its shareholders, including BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank. France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are expected to launch Wero e-commerce later in 2026, with the Dutch market seeing the migration of iDEAL onto Wero rails. For EPI, the central challenge remains converting strong peer-to-peer adoption into habitual usage at the point of sale and in online checkout. Worldpay's distribution reach across European merchants represents a material step toward that goal.
The broader context is European policymakers' long-standing ambition to establish a sovereign payment scheme that can compete with international card networks. Wero is built entirely on European infrastructure and operates under European governance, positioning it as a strategic alternative for merchants seeking to reduce dependence on non-European payment rails. Whether that positioning translates into sustained merchant and consumer preference will depend on the speed at which acquirers like Worldpay can deliver seamless integration and competitive transaction economics.