Behind this new development is a strategic partnership between Revolut and the EPI (European Payments Initiative), an alliance that could well change the way Europeans pay every day.
The EPI, supported by 16 European banks and service providers, aims to create a sovereign alternative to payment giants like Visa and Mastercard. Its solution, called Wero, is a digital wallet based on instant account-to-account transfers. Deployed in the summer of 2024 for payments between individuals, Wero already boasts more than 40 million users. The goal is clear: to offer a unified, simple, and 100% European system capable of managing online payments as well as in-store purchases and subscriptions. A gradual expansion is planned from the end of 2025, before a general rollout by 2026.
The arrival of Revolut marks a significant acceleration
With more than 50 million customers worldwide, the neo-bank, founded in the United Kingdom in 2015, has built its success on modern banking services and a seamless user experience. By integrating Wero into its app, Revolut adds a local and strategic string to its bow, in line with the expectations of its European users. They will be able to make free and instant transfers from their Revolut app, without an intermediary, with a high level of security.
In concrete terms, Wero allows you to send money to your contacts, similar to Lydia or PayPal, but without going through proprietary American systems. The solution relies directly on bank accounts and instant payment infrastructures, thus reducing costs and delays. This technological choice also gives Europe a lever of sovereignty in a sector that has until now been largely dominated by non-European players.
According to Revolut, this partnership is part of a broader desire to offer its customers the possibility of "paying like locals." A way of saying that, whether you are in Paris, Brussels, or Berlin, payment must be as fluid as it is intuitive, without border or banking network barriers.
For its part, the EPI sees Revolut as a powerful ally to establish Wero on a larger scale. "This is a new chapter for the way payments are processed in Europe," says its CEO, Martina Weimert. By bringing together traditional banks and fintech players around a common infrastructure, the initiative aims to create a credible, modern, and secure alternative that could eventually become as essential as the Anglo-Saxon giants in the sector.
A well-chosen timing
At the moment, issues of digital sovereignty, data security, and control of strategic infrastructures regularly come up, so the emergence of a European payment tool makes perfect sense. If the promise is kept, Wero could well become to Europe what Bizum is to Spain, or Swish to Sweden: a de facto standard, driven by usage and simplicity.
It remains to convince users to adopt it, beyond the Revolut sphere. User experience, speed, and interoperability will undoubtedly be the keys to success. And if Wero succeeds in its bet, all Europeans' payment habits could be transformed!
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