Wero is coming to Austria: Erste Bank and Raiffeisen join EPI

Wero is expanding to Austria. Erste Bank Oesterreich and the Raiffeisen group have become shareholders in the European Payments Initiative (EPI), the organisation behind the European payment system Wero.

Within Raiffeisen, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and the regional Raiffeisen Landesbanken of Lower Austria-Vienna, Upper Austria and Styria are joining. RBI has been an official EPI member since 26 November 2025. EPI describes Austria, with its nine million inhabitants, as a strategic growth market.

What does this mean for users?

For online shops the first step is already in place: Austrian merchants have been able to accept Wero payments in e-commerce since early 2026. Issuing Wero to consumers has been in preparation since January 2026 through Payment Services Austria. No specific launch date for consumers has been announced yet.

The Austrian expansion runs in parallel with the rollout in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Wero is already live in Germany, France and Belgium and reports more than 55 million users across Europe.

Wero.info tracks the rollout country by country and will update the overview as soon as more is known about the start for Austrian consumers.