Five European payment groups formed the European Network for Payments, a joint company intended to connect their account-to-account services across borders. The founders are Bancomat, Bizum, EPI Company, which operates Wero, SIBS-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay. Together, they serve about 130 million users across 13 countries.
ENP will be based in Madrid and oversee a shared interoperability hub using European standards and instant bank transfers. The participating services cover more than 70% of the population of the European Union and Norway, the companies said. The companies plan to begin with cross-border person-to-person transfers before extending the system to e-commerce and point-of-sale payments.
EXISTING SERVICES WILL CONNECT THROUGH ONE HUB
The approach is designed to link established domestic payment schemes rather than replace them with a single consumer brand. Customers would continue using their existing service while the common infrastructure routes eligible payments to participating markets. The founding partners will be equal shareholders, and other established European payment solutions may join over time, subject to the partners’ agreement and the network’s requirements.
The entity follows a memorandum of understanding that the EuroPA alliance and EPI signed in February 2026. Reuters reported the formation on 30 September.
EUROPE SEEKS GREATER PAYMENTS AUTONOMY
Reuters reported the move as part of Europe’s efforts to curb its dependence on Visa and Mastercard, which handle almost two-thirds of the bloc’s card payments. European policymakers have made payments sovereignty a priority as a fragmenting global order raises risks over access to payments systems, Reuters reported. Separately, the European Central Bank aims to introduce a digital euro by 2029.
The partners said they are now preparing the technical implementation of the target set-up.