Bank-backed EPI processes first e-commerce transactions

Editorial

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The Proof-of-Concept transactions were completed between the end of November and mid-December on the online store of German football club 1. FC Kaiserslautern This setup entailed the smooth integration of the EPI’s Wero wallet into the online platform of the merchant and its acquiring partner, VR Payments, as well as in the online banking app of the end-customers.

Further trials will be conducted throughout the first half of the year, before the official launch starting in Germany over the summer. Belgium will follow in the fall and France at the beginning of 2026.

The EPI says the e-commerce module will cover standard payment use cases such as one-off payments and refunds and will add more complex payment models over time.

Martina Weimert, CEO, European Payments Initiative, comments: “This POC is another key step towards our retail market entry into commercial payments. The aim was to prove our solution is working well end-to-end and is as simple, secure, and effective as we’ve been advocating for. Now we are entering the next phase and preparing for the broad introduction in the coming months.”

The EPI in November announced that it had enrolled 14 million users and processed eight million transactions since launch following the release of its P2P wallet.

In-store payments at the cash register will also be added in 2026, along with other capabilities, such as BNPL, merchant loyalty, programme integration and expense sharing.