New collaboration aims to connect 382 million citizens across 15 countries via trusted mobile payment solutions
The European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) have announced a partnership to tackle Europe’s long-standing dependence on foreign payment systems, with the goal of creating a sovereign, interoperable cross-border payments network across the continent.
Unveiled on June 22, the joint initiative brings together some of Europe’s most widely used mobile payment providers – Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY (SIBS), and Vipps MobilePay – to enable seamless person-to-person and merchant payments.
It will cover 382 million people across 15 countries, using the digital tools they reportedly already trust.
The agreement comes amid growing political and regulatory pressure for Europe to reclaim strategic control over its financial infrastructure. By interlinking established domestic services, the partners say they can deliver instant, borderless payments without waiting for the development of a single new scheme.
“This is a welcome and timely move to address Europe’s sovereignty challenge in payments,” said Pratiksha Pathak, Head of Payments at RedCompass Labs.
“For too long, cross-border euro transactions have been slow, expensive and lacking transparency, a far cry from the seamless experiences consumers and businesses now expect. Interoperability between trusted, local digital payment solutions is a pragmatic way to reclaim control and build a sovereign European payments system.”
The announcement aligns with the European Commission’s drive to foster independence from non-EU providers and precedes the mandatory implementation of the SEPA Instant Payments Regulation in October 2025, which will require EU banks to support pan-European instant payments.
“By linking together widely adopted services like Bizum, MB WAY, Vipps MobilePay and Bancomat, this initiative allows 382 million people across 15 countries to keep using the digital tools they already trust, but now with reach across borders,” Pathak added.
“Combined with SEPA Instant, this could create the foundation for a faster, cheaper, secure and more connected European payments landscape—one that reduces friction for merchants, boosts transparency, and empowers consumers with truly borderless payments.”
The joint study between EuroPA and EPI will run through summer 2025 and is expected to offer concrete proposals for integrating their platforms, covering all major retail use cases: online, in-store, and peer-to-peer.
The effort also provides a possible blueprint for other regions grappling with payment fragmentation. As recently noted in the UK’s own exploration of a unified payments framework, Europe’s move signals a broader shift toward integrated, sovereign digital infrastructure amid growing geopolitical and economic pressures.
“Interconnecting existing solutions is a rapid path forward to European sovereignty,” EuroPA stated, “and will continue to drive innovation, convenience, and efficiency for both consumers and merchants.”
