Madrid — Several major European domestic payment networks announced Wednesday that they will form a joint company to coordinate cross-border payments, combining systems that serve approximately 130 million users.
The founding organizations are Spain’s Bizum, Italy’s Bancomat, EPI Company/Wero, SIBS-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay. Collectively, the networks operate in 13 European countries and account for more than 70% of the populations of the European Union and Norway.
The new company, known as the European Network for Payments, will be based in Madrid. It will run a shared interoperability hub designed to link existing national payment systems.
The first phase will concentrate on cross-border person-to-person payments. The participating companies said e-commerce and point-of-sale transactions would be introduced during later stages.
The effort comes as European policymakers look to reduce reliance on payment infrastructure operated by major U.S. companies. Visa and Mastercard currently process almost two-thirds of card payments in the European Union, according to Reuters.
European governments and financial institutions have placed growing emphasis on payment infrastructure as a strategic priority amid increasing fragmentation in the international financial system.
The European Central Bank is separately developing a digital euro that it aims to launch by 2029. The planned currency would operate as an online wallet guaranteed by the ECB and managed by private companies, including banks.
The new payment venture takes a different approach by seeking to link existing national systems through shared technical infrastructure.
The founding companies said the common platform would use European standards and support instant account-to-account payments. Other European payment schemes could also join the network in the future.
The initiative is intended to allow separate national payment systems to work together while preserving the infrastructure consumers already use in their respective markets.
Under the phased rollout, person-to-person payments will come first, followed by commercial transactions such as online purchases and payments made directly at physical stores.
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