Wero (payment)
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines for companies and organizations. (July 2024) |
 | |
Type of site | Mobile payment |
|---|---|
| Area served | West Europe |
| URL | wero-wallet |
| Launched | 2024 |
| Native client(s) on | iOS, Android |
Wero is a European mobile payment system intended to replace Giropay in Germany, Paylib in France and to complement Payconiq in Belgium.[1] The service was launched on 2 July 2024 by the European Payments Initiative.[2] The service intends to compete with PayPal and similar services, beginning as a real-time payment system and later with extended online payment function.
The name is a portmanteau made up of the English personal pronoun we and the European's common currency's name Euro, but is also based on the Italian vero (true).[3]
Background
[edit] | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2024) |
Giropay had a market share of 0.4 percent in 2023 and is no longer expected to be profitable due to high fixed costs. It was decided to discontinue the payment service together with the provider Paydirekt at the end of 2024 and to gradually build up the new payment service in several stages.
The aim of EPI's project is to achieve greater independence from the market power of American payment service providers. According to the management consultancy Capco, Wero's market entry may come too late for many, but the train has "not yet completely left the station, but is already in motion." The Center for Financial Studies believes that the end of 2021 will be the "last opportunity for Europe to establish a payment system that can keep up with global competition" (especially against US competitors).
Planned functions
[edit] | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2024) |
Wero will initially enable person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-professional (P2Pro) payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. A comprehensive range of transaction types will be supported, including one-off payments, subscriptions, installments, payments upon delivery and reservations. Additionally, value-added services will be incorporated into the solution over time, including responsible 'Buy Now, Pay Later' (BNPL) financing, digital identity features and integration of merchant loyalty programmes.[4]
One flaw of the old payment service was the complicated and time-consuming setup for customers and merchants alike. Wero is supposed to be linked to the user's current account and can be used immediately without setup.
EPI, to which 16 of the original 32 financial service providers still belong, launched a pilot operation between Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and the French Banque Populaire in December 2023 based on the fully developed SCT-Inst SEPA payment solution. Paydirekt accounts are to be terminated at the end of 2024.
EPI wants to start the "digital wallet" wero with mobile-to-mobile payments in Belgium, Germany and France and offer its own app so that, according to the provider, almost all bank customers in these countries will most likely be able to use wero. It should be comparable to Twint (Switzerland) and MobilePay (Denmark).
In Germany, Sparkassen, Postbank, Deutsche Bank and ING want to make a start. EPI member banks also want to implement the services in their own apps based on SEPA and on the basis of the mobile phone numbers registered with the banks, including Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.
In the Netherlands, the central bank has made success a condition for the migration of iDEAL to the European platform.
By mid-2025, payment in online stores should be possible and thus compete with PayPal and credit cards. The final step planned is the integration with payment terminals at the point of sale.
Current supported banks
[edit]| Bank name | Country | Begin of support |
|---|---|---|
| Belfius | Belgium | |
| BNP Paribas | France | 2024-10-24[5] |
| Groupe BPCE | France | 2024-10-02[5] |
| Crédit Agricole | France | 2024-09-26[5] |
| Crédit Mutuel | France | 2024-11-06[5] |
| KBC (CBC, KBC Brussels) | Belgium | 2024-07-02[6] |
| La Banque Postale | France | 2024-10-28[5] |
| Postbank | Germany | 2024-10-31[7] |
| Deutsche Bank | Germany | Mid 2025[7] |
| Hello bank! | France | 2024-10-02 |
| PSD Bank | Germany | 2024-09-30[8] |
| Société Générale | France | 2024-10-24[5] |
| Sparda-Bank | Germany | |
| Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe | Germany | 2024-07-02 |
| Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken | Germany | 2024-07-02 |
Other countries
[edit]Other banks that want to offer the service are Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Postbank (Germany), BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Groupe Banque Populaire and Worldline (France), ING (Netherlands) and Nexi (Italy). Further banks are to follow.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]- European Payments Initiative
- Instant payment
- MobilePay
- PayPal
- Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
- TWINT
- Venmo
- Vipps
- Swish (payment)
References
[edit]- ^ TestAchats (12 September 2024). "Wero : nouveau système de paiement lancé en Belgique". Testachats (in French). Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- ^ "EPI launches wero". European Payments Initiative. 2024. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024.
- ^ Atzler, Elisabeth (7 September 2023). "Neuer europäischer Zahlungsdienst soll 'Wero' heißen". Handelsblatt. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
- ^ "EPI Company announces acquisitions, additional shareholders and the coming launch of its new instant payment solution - Société Générale". www.societegenerale.com. 25 April 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "EPI lance Wero, son portefeuille de paiement numérique européen en France".
- ^ Flandern, VRT Nachrichten-Aktuelles aus (29 July 2024). "Neues europäisches digitales Zahlungssystem auch bald in Belgien aktiviert". vrtnws.be (in German). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ a b Reinhardt, Justus (1 October 2024). "EPI – Postbank startet Wero Ende Oktober". DER PLATOW Brief (in German). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ^ "Wero". www.psd-rheinneckarsaar.de (in German). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
