cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12165459
For most Dutch shoppers, iDEAL has simply been how you pay online. Since 26 October, customers of 11 Dutch banks have been able to pay merchants online with Wero, the wallet run by the European Payments Initiative (EPI). The banks are ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, bunq, BUUT, Finom, ING, Knab, Nationale-Nederlanden, Rabobank, Triodos Bank and Van Lanschot Kempen. Merchants can now start switching through their payment service providers, and EPI aims to complete the migration by the end of 2027.
EPI’s chief executive, Martina Weimert, described seeing Wero inside Dutch shareholders’ banking apps as “definitely the milestone” the company had been working towards.
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Wero sits inside a broader European debate about reducing reliance on non-European card schemes and wallets. EPI is backed by 18 banks and payment providers. The planned European Network for Payments aims to connect schemes serving around 130 million users in 13 countries. Meanwhile, the ECB is preparing the digital euro. It has pointed to a pilot in 2027 and potential first issuance in 2029, subject to legislation.
The two are often presented as complementary, a private bank-led wallet and public money underneath. In practice, banks, merchants and regulators will need to decide how much overlap the market can sustain. They will also need to settle who bears the cost of acceptance and integration.
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I was happily surprised few weeks ago when I could make an online purchase with Wero, on a German website. Hope this system gains traction and stays straight forward and simple like it is now.
Some effort must be made to make the registration process simpler. Although, I didn’t feel it was complicated, some people around me have not made the step even after I pitch them the service and seemed convinced it’s nice.