The new European payment system Wero from the European Payments Initiative (EPI) has been launched. To start with, most savings banks as well as the Volks and Raiffeisenbanks in Germany are using Wero to enable mobile payments from one mobile phone to another.
If you want to use Wero, you don’t need the recipient’s 22-digit account number (Iban), unlike a conventional transfer via current account. Instead, you can use a mobile number or email address to transfer money. The money will be credited to the recipient’s account within ten seconds. From 2025 you should also be able to pay with Wero online and from 2026 in retail.
16 companies involved in Wero
Wero is operated by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a joint venture of 14 banks and two payment companies. The partners want to compete with major US financial groups such as Mastercard, Visa and Paypal. In addition, the advance of Apple Pay and Google Pay is expected to be halted. One example is the smartphone payment solution Twint from Switzerland, which is very popular there.
Deutsche Bank will follow later
EPI member Deutsche Bank, its subsidiary Postbank and ING were not yet present at the start of Wero. Experts expect it to start this year. Commerzbank and neobanks such as N26 are not involved in EPI and Wero.
The payment function can be activated in the app
Customers of savings banks and cooperative banks do not need to install a new app on their smartphones to try out Wero, but can activate the function in their banking app. If you want to not only send money via Wero, but also receive it, you will also need to enter a mobile number or email address in the banking app.
(with dpa)