European payments gains PayPal expertise as the company looks to return to its technology roots.
PayPal has said interoperability and AI will determine the future of digital commerce after joining the European Payments Council (EPC).
The payments giant joined the EPC on 2 July, allowing it to contribute to discussions on the development of the SEPA scheme, instant payments, fraud prevention and payment infrastructure across Europe.
Sean Byrne, CEO of PayPal Europe, said: “We see ourselves as an integral part of the conversation on how European payment infrastructure evolves – and a responsibility to help shape it.”
Founded in 2002 by the European banking industry, the EPC develops and manages the rules and standards governing SEPA payment schemes. PayPal joins more than 80 members, including banks, payment service providers and national banking associations such as ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO.
“We look forward to collaborating with stakeholders across the European payments ecosystem and playing a meaningful role in shaping, strengthening, and advancing the future of payments in Europe,” Byrne added.
Interoperability pressures
In an interview with the EPC, Byrne identified interoperability and AI as two defining technological challenges for the payments industry, describing the market as “intensely competitive and rapidly evolving”.
He said payments firms are under pressure from consumers and merchants to deliver greater interoperability, with expectations that users should be able to pay anyone, anywhere, without needing to think about which scheme sits behind the transaction.
Byrne said PayPal is positioning itself as a payments and commerce layer capable of operating across all rails.
In Europe, this pressure is made worse by fragmentation driven by payment sovereignty initiatives and a change in consumer preferences. Cards are still the most used payment method, but account‑to‑account propositions are growing, including schemes such as Wero.
Helping in the age of AI
In addition to interoperability, Byrne pointed to AI as the second major development influencing payments.
“As more purchasing journeys begin inside AI-powered interfaces, the question of which payment providers are present, trusted, and ready in those moments becomes strategically critical, and that is a question PayPal is actively positioning itself to answer,” he said.
In October 2025, PayPal became the first payment option within ChatGPT via the Agentic Commerce Protocol, enabling users to complete purchases through OpenAI’s Instant Checkout system.
While AI-driven payments continue to accelerate, Byrne’s comments emphasised that the industry still has significant work to do to prepare for machine‑initiated transactions.
Agentic payments, for example, are expected to force AML systems to a total rethink of assumptions.
Speaking to Payment Expert last month, Garima Chaudhary, VP of Financial Crime and Compliance AI at Thetaray, said AML systems were designed around human behaviour and must now adapt to machines making decisions.
Earlier this year, during his first earnings call as CEO, Enrique Lores said PayPal has to once again become a technology company and return to its fundamentals. This strategy may prove valuable within the EPC as more issues emerge from machine‑driven payments.
“Scale, ubiquity, and data are the foundation for competing, but we believe the winners will be those who combine trusted consumer relationships with the ability to operate across all payment rails,” Byrne said.
“In the current European context, PayPal is well-positioned to be the wallet and commerce layer consumers reach for, regardless of the underlying rail.”
