The European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) are collaborating on a payment solution to enable seamless cross-border transactions for European citizens.

EPI, backed by 16 major European banks and payment service providers, is developing a unified digital wallet called Wero for European consumers. EuroPA, an alliance comprising Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY (SIBS) and Vipps MobilePay, aims to strengthen Europe's payments market through interoperability between existing solutions.

The partnership will involve both organisations studying a comprehensive payment solution covering all transaction types, including person-to-person payments and commercial transactions both online and in-store across Europe.

Initially covering 15 European countries with over 382 million inhabitants, the agreement will allow consumers to use their preferred digital payment solutions both locally and internationally. It will also establish a framework for markets currently lacking such solutions.

This initiative represents progress toward European payment sovereignty by reducing reliance on US-based card networks like Visa and Mastercard, as well as major technology platforms. Both organisations will continue their joint study until the end of summer.

EuroPA utilises SEPA instant payment standards across participating nations, enabling more than 50 million users in Andorra, Italy, Portugal and Spain to conduct instant transactions through member operators' solutions.

Recent additions to the initiative include Blik (Poland), IRIS (Greece) and Vipps MobilePay (Nordic countries), which will be progressively integrated into operations, according to EuroPA.

"The interconnection of existing solutions provides an efficient pathway toward European sovereignty and independence, objectives supported by the European Commission and the Eurosystem," EPI stated.

Earlier this week, Berlin based payment platform Unzer joined the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to help German small and medium sized businesses access EPI's Wero digital wallet.

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