This will challenge the continent’s two largest payment processing networks and supersede the existing fragmented landscape by providing a unified payment solution to consumers and merchants across Europe using a card and a digital wallet.
When in 2014 Visa and Mastercard suddenly stopped offering their payment services to Russian customers, European financial institutions understood that they were also at risk of losing these services. Fast forward a few years and 16 big European banks from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Holland announce the launch of EPI (European Payment Initiative). This will challenge the continent’s two largest payment processing networks and supersede the existing fragmented landscape by providing a unified payment solution to consumers and merchants across Europe using a card and a digital wallet. There are still 10 European countries supporting their own national card schemes that do not accept cards from other states. Half of all retail transactions are still carried out in cash. EPI’s founders are now creating an interim company in Brussels (Belgium) to design the technical and operational roadmap. The EPI should be up and running by 2022—with the blessing of the European Central Bank—to facilitate cross border transactions.
