What is Wero? A complete guide to Europe's new payment system

Wero is the pan-European instant payment system launched in 2024 by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a coalition of sixteen major European banks. Its goal is to build a European alternative to Mastercard, Visa and PayPal — keeping payment data within the eurozone rather than routing it through U.S. providers.

In the Netherlands, Wero is set to replace iDEAL for online checkout. In Belgium it succeeds Bancontact, and in Germany and France it is the central service for mobile peer-to-peer payments. Under the hood, Wero runs on SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, so payments settle in seconds — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Wero is free for consumers: there are no transaction fees for peer-to-peer payments. Shoppers who often buy across borders can pair Wero with a service like CashbackXL to claw back some cashback at participating stores — Wero itself does not offer discounts, but it provides a fast and reliable payment rail.

Wero is not a separate app: it is integrated inside the existing banking apps of participating banks. You activate it inside your own bank's app — no new account required. The network will expand in the coming years to include more banks, more countries and additional functionality such as subscriptions and e-commerce checkout.