Wero's new alliance with Bizum - what's the reasoning behind it?
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital payments, a new player is emerging in Europe - Wero, a service by EPI. This service, gaining traction among restaurants and small businesses in Spain, particularly those relying on tourism, is poised to challenge the dominance of global payment giants.
EPI's strategic shift towards collaboration with other European payment systems is driven by a desire for European payment sovereignty, fostering interoperability, and expanding its user base and merchant acceptance across the continent. By integrating with strong domestic mobile wallets such as Blik (Poland), Bancomat (Italy), Bizum (Spain), Vipps (Norway), IRIS (Greece), and MB Way (Portugal), Wero aims to create a seamless, unified payments ecosystem, enabling cross-border instant payments.
One of the key factors driving this initiative is the pursuit of a secure, sovereign alternative to non-European payment services. This aligns politically and commercially, with Bizum, for instance, potentially serving as a first step towards implementing Wero in Southern Europe, given its 27 million users.
The collaboration strategy also leverages established domestic wallets for scale and acceptance. Linking with prominent wallets like Blik and Bizum accelerates Wero's adoption, offering immediate access to millions of users and merchants, facilitating large-scale cross-border acceptance.
Moreover, this collaboration allows Wero to offer a broad range of payment functionalities, improving user experience and merchant integration speed. From peer-to-peer to in-store and e-commerce payments, Wero is poised to become a comprehensive payment solution.
Regulatory support is another driving force. For example, Greece’s IRIS wallet is gaining momentum due to a law mandating its acceptance both online and in-store. Strategic partnerships with payment service providers, such as Nuvei, further aid Wero's e-commerce expansion by tapping into established merchant networks and providing flexible integrations.
However, EPI's journey has not been without setbacks. In 2022, some major Spanish banks, including Caixabank, BBVA, Banco Santander, and a coalition of 12 smaller banks, left EPI before Wero even launched. EPI has since changed its stance towards these defectors, announcing a shift away from its previous rejection of collaborations.
The escalating trade war with the US and warnings from ECB President Christine Lagarde about the market power of American payment providers may also have influenced EPI's shift. Some, like Gijs ter Horst, CEO of Ximedes, suggest that Wero could be perceived as an ethical alternative to American tech giants.
As the race for European payment dominance heats up, PayPal's recent announcement of a wallet for contactless payments at checkout adds pressure on EPI to act. EPI, however, remains undeterred, calling on European payment systems and banks to unite and collaborate.
In the words of Lukas Homrich, a freelance journalist who writes about economic and financial topics, with a focus on philosophizing about business models, "Now is the time to act." The future of European payments could very well be shaped by this strategic collaboration approach, uniting Europe's domestic payment champions into one cohesive system. Further details about potential collaborations will be communicated in due course.
In the pursuit of a unified, cross-border payments ecosystem, Wero, a service by EPI, is integrating with domestic mobile wallets such as Blik, Bancomat, Bizum, Vipps, IRIS, and MB Way, aligning politically and commercially with the ambition of offering a secure, sovereign alternative to non-European payment services. This strategic collaboration also seeks to expand its user base and merchant acceptance across the continent, providing a broad range of payment functionalities for improved user experience and integration speed.
Leveraging established domestic wallets for scale and acceptance, Wero's collaboration strategy aims to create a seamless, unified payments ecosystem, enabling efficient cross-border instant payments and fostering interoperability among European payment systems, thus challenging the dominance of global payment giants.
