After scaling back plans to compete with American payment giants Visa and Mastercard, a project to offer an immediate payments service across Europe starting at the end of 2023 announced on Tuesday that it has bought two payment firms and secured the support of other banks.
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced its intention to buy Currence iDEAL, a Dutch payment system, and PQI, a Luxembourg-based provider of payment solutions for iDEAL.
EPI said that additional investors BNP Paribas, BPCE, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale have joined Belfius, DZ Bank, ABN Amro, and Rabobank.
Martina Weimert, CEO of the EPI business, stated, “We are developing a new, scalable platform to address the modern and evolving payment needs of European consumers and merchants in the best possible way, with efficient, state-of-the-art technology.”
The ambitious goal of EPI, to develop a European rival to the two major cross-border card payment systems Visa and Mastercard, failed to materialize last year with the withdrawal of half of its member banks.
EPI, which had requested public funding because banks were unwilling to provide all the funding required, subsequently narrowed its attention more specifically on creating a digital wallet by establishing a single brand for immediate, account-to-account payments across Europe.
By the end of 2023, a pilot program will provide the wallet to its first customers in France and Germany. In early 2024, a wider market introduction will include Belgium.
More than half of all non-cash payments in the euro area are made through these markets. The expansion to further European nations will follow, according to EPI.
Later on, payments for online and mobile purchases will be included, along with installments for subscriptions and services like “buy now, pay later.”
