European alternatives to Visa and Mastercard ‘urgently’ needed, says banking chief

Europe’s top banking and central bank figures are warning that the EU is too dependent on US card networks like Visa and Mastercard and are backing new European schemes such as Wero to reduce that reliance.

What the banking chief said

• Martina Weimert, head of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), said Europe “urgently” needs to cut dependence on international solutions like Visa and Mastercard because there is no strong European cross‑border card alternative.

• Officials fear these US‑based systems could be “weaponized” if transatlantic relations deteriorate, turning payment infrastructure into geopolitical leverage.

• Visa and Mastercard currently handle roughly two‑thirds of euro‑area card payments, underlining how concentrated the market is.

What Europe is building instead

• The main private‑sector project is EPI’s Wero digital wallet, designed to support instant account‑to‑account payments for in‑store, online, and person‑to‑person use across the euro area.

• In February 2026, EPI and the EuroPA Alliance (a group of national schemes like Italy’s Bancomat, Spain’s Bizum, Portugal’s MB WAY and Nordic wallet Vipps MobilePay) agreed to link their systems into a single interoperable network.

• That deal connects about 130 million users in 13 European countries, aiming to offer cross‑border peer‑to‑peer payments from 2026 and then e‑commerce and point‑of‑sale payments from around 2027.

Role of central banks and the digital euro

• The European Central Bank is pushing instant payment infrastructure (like its TIPS system) as a backbone for pan‑European retail payments that do not need to rely on non‑European card rails.

• In parallel, the ECB is developing a “digital euro,” a proposed central bank digital currency that would act as a digital form of cash and anchor Europe’s payments ecosystem, keeping at least part of retail payments directly on central‑bank money.​

Why this matters

• Leaders argue that payment autonomy is now a strategic issue: deep economic integration has created dependencies that can be used as leverage when partners are not fully aligned.​

• By expanding schemes like Wero and interlinking domestic systems, the EU hopes to give consumers and merchants a viable European alternative for everyday digital payments, while still allowing international brands to operate in a more balanced landscape.