Lhe new European payment system Wero, intended to facilitate mobile payments, was officially launched on Tuesday in Belgium. It is now accessible via the applications of the four major Belgian banks, namely Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and CBC, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced on Tuesday during a press conference.
Wero users will be able to transfer and receive money instantly via a QR code. For Belfius and CBC customers, it will also be possible to send money to people on their smartphone’s contact list, also registered on Wero. These payments can be made directly from their usual banking application, completely free of charge.
La fin de Payconiq
EPI also collaborated with Bancontact Payconiq Company (BPC) on the launch of Wero in Belgium. Initially, Wero and the already existing payment app Payconiq will continue to coexist. When Wero is well integrated into Belgian banks and the transition phase is completed, Payconiq will be replaced by Wero. The date of its shutdown should be communicated sometime in 2025.
BPC will additionally distribute Wero to merchants currently using Payconiq, allowing them to accept Wero payments in their stores without having to change anything to adopt this new solution.
“Will for independence”
Through this new means of payment, EPI aims to compete with major international players such as Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. “We have a desire for independence, it is strategically important to keep the data that accompanies payments in Europe,” underlines Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI.
This launch of Wero in Belgium follows successful deployments in Germany last July and in France at the end of September. Ultimately, the Netherlands and Luxembourg should follow.
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