Called to eventually replace Paylib among our French neighbors and compete with Payconiq here, Wero is setting out to conquer Europe.
Wero, a new instant payment method born from the collaboration of 14 major European banks, is being launched in France, announced the European Payments Initiative (EPI), the company responsible for its development.
We told you about it in the last issue of Trends-Tendances, this payment application recently arrived with us. It is already available at CBC, KBC and Belfius and will soon be available at BNP Paribas Fortis (and therefore also at Fintro and Hello Bank) as well as at ING. A wider rollout is planned by the end of the year.
In France, Wero has already been available since September for customers of certain banks, and its deployment will continue throughout the month of October. Just like in Belgium, customers will have access mainly via their banking applications.
Wero, what is this for?
A sort of European Payconiq, Wero initially allows individuals to send and receive money between themselves via instant transfers from account to account, using a telephone number, a QR code generated by the application or an email address.
The great strength of Wero lies in these instant transfers, visible on the beneficiary’s account after ten seconds at most. These transfers offer many advantages compared to current ordinary transfers: available at any time of the day, they guarantee the immediate arrival of funds, allowing the beneficiary to have instant access to them.
In Belgium, these transfers are generally free under certain conditions. On the other hand, in France, they still charge in most banking establishments. Although long held back by this cost, instant transfers are growing rapidly in France. According to the Banque de France, it already represented more than 6% of transfers in 2022. French banks will have to generalize it anyway and make it free next year, in accordance with European regulations.
Wero, what for?
This project, initially more ambitious, with a development cost estimated in billions of euros, encountered several obstacles and suffered successive delays. “This project is not simple, it took a lot of time and is very difficult from a regulatory point of view,” explains Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI, who adds: “It is not easy to to have arrived where we are. »
Originally imagined as a European competitor to the American giants Visa and Mastercard, Wero’s ambition was largely scaled back at the start of 2022. The project refocused on a dematerialized wallet accessible on mobile, while the idea of a physical map was abandoned due to differences between project members.
No national market “has the means to compete with major international competitors”, underlines Martina Weimert. “We need to pool investments and make a collective effort” to have an impact in a sector with significant fixed costs.
In the years to come, Wero will gradually expand to payments with online merchants (e-commerce), professionals, and finally to local businesses.
Gain trust
This is also where the “real battle” will be played out, according to Ms. Weimert: with local businesses. To establish itself, Wero will have to be accepted by these traders. Banks are banking on more competitive rates than those of Visa and Mastercard for merchants, as well as on their large customer base.
However, Wero’s initial ambition is no longer that of the beginnings, and the banks still remain dependent on American competitors and, more broadly, on bank cards, a very lucrative activity for them.
This service, already available in Germany, will then be deployed, after France and Belgium, in Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
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