"Paydirekt wird abgeschafft" (paydirekt to be abolished) was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 12 June. The service provider (including Giropay) was only able to process 4 per cent of online payments and was therefore beaten by international competition from the USA. "These providers are powerful, innovative and successful. And they offer solutions that can be used anywhere in Europe. But it can become a problem if we have to rely on non-European providers," said Burkhard Balz, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the Hamburg Banking Supervision Day on 16 October 2023. (2)
The drastic consequences of dependencies should have become clear to most Europeans (and especially Germans) since 24 February 2022 with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is therefore good news that 16 European savings banks, banks and payment service providers are setting out to launch the digital wallet wero with their European Payments Initiative (EPI) (3). The founding shareholders of the Brussels-based Societas Europaea come from Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
Wero digital wallet as the centrepiece of the EPI offering
The wero wallet is the centrepiece of the EPI offering. (3) According to the European Payments Initiative, the app is easy to use and offers customers "unrivalled transparency and control". The wallet offering is to be expanded step by step. Initially, further payment methods from third-party providers are to be supported. But wero's idea goes beyond mere transactions. In future, the digital wallet is to offer all stakeholders - from customers to retailers - additional services with added value.
On 2 July 2024, the initiative announced the launch of its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payment solution wero. Customers of German Sparkasse, Volksbank and Raiffeisenbank can now make instant account-to-account money transfers between private individuals via their banking application. (4) This service will be rolled out to all EPI bank members within the next six months.
EPI already connects 120 million people
The wero wallet cannot be compared with the failed paydirekt/Giropay, says Stefan Marotzke, press spokesman for Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband e. V. (German Savings Banks and Giro Association) "The need for wero stems from customers' desire for a standardised solution for all payment transactions that is fully integrated into the European banking system. This has not existed until now. And it's also different from paydirekt." The participating banks already "connect" 120 million people in Europe financially.
The company is aware that this is a long-term commitment that will take some time to establish itself on the market. And even the digital euro, which the ECB is working on, will not make the wero wallet obsolete. Marotzke: "Above all, we see the digital euro as a good opportunity to cooperate and jointly promote sovereignty in European payment transactions. The digital euro will initially be a simple means of payment. Everything around it, such as buyer protection, payment reservations or recurring payments, will not come from the ECB, but from wero, for example. And let me put it this way: we are happy to reserve a place for the digital euro in the wero wallet."
Margit Reiser-Schober
1 Ursula von der Leyen on 18 July 2024 in the European Parliament in Strasbourg:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_24_3871
2 Burkhard Balz, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, on 16 October 2023:
https://www.bundesbank.de/de/presse/reden/gemeinsam-die-zukunft-des-zahlungsverkehrs-gestalten-das-projekt-digitaler-euro--912654
3. https://www.epicompany.eu/
4. https://www.epicompany.eu/epi-successfully-executes-first-instant-payment-transactions-in-europe-with-wero-between-customers-from-banque-populaire-and-caisse-depargne-groupe-bpce-in-france-and-sparkasse-elbe-elster-copy-3-copy/
Error in the content? - eurolandpost(at)gmx.eu
Original language German - error in the translation? - eurolandpost(at)gmx.eu
Translated with deepl