EPI makes Wero a reality in Germany

A further step in the roll-out of the European Payments Initiative's (EPI) Wero payment solution for European banks has been taken with the official launch of Wero in Germany. The service will initially focus on B2C payments in the country, before opening up to other markets and functionalities, marking the start of its long-awaited rollout.

FACTS

• The effective launch of Wero in Germany was made possible by local founding members DSGV and DZ BANK, as well as Deutsche Bank.
• German customers can now make free instant money transfers from account to account between private individuals, via their banking app.
• Customers of Sparkassen, Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbank are the first to benefit from this roll-out.
• Deutsche Bank will launch Wero later this year, starting with Postbank customers in late summer.

CHALLENGES

• A European first: The deployment of Wero in Germany, and its actual availability to local end-users, represents a first in Europe. The country can indeed claim to be the first to make the service effectively available for payment between individuals.
• Wero will also be available to KBC customers in Belgium by the end of July. It will then be extended to France by September or October (instead of June as originally planned), following pilot tests carried out over the summer. All EPI member banks will finally be offering Wero to their customers within the next 6 months.
• Scheduled opening of functionalities: In addition to payment between individuals, including internationally, Wero's services will be enhanced by new functionalities in 2025. These will include the ability to pay any small business from your wallet, as well as online merchants and invoices via QR code. In-store payments at the checkout will also be added in 2026, followed by loyalty programs and other shared-spending options.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The rollout of Wero in Germany thus represents another decisive step, as after years of waiting, things have been gathering pace for EPI in recent months. At the end of 2023, for example, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) carried out the first Instant Payment transactions in Europe, between Sparkasse Elbe-Elster customers in Germany and Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne in France.
• Just recently, PSP Computop announced that merchants will be able to offer the Wero solution to their customers in mid-2025, as soon as EPI launches e-commerce payments.
• Another signal of EPI's acceleration came in the form of the discontinuation of Giropay in Germany. The German online payment initiative, created in 2005, was not widely adopted, and was particularly concerned about the arrival of EPI as a major new competitor.