European payment service providers are collaborating to help 130 million Europeans switch away from Visa and Mastercard.

American international credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard not only collect a portion of sales from card payments as fees, but also gather vast amounts of user data from around the world. In Europe, payment service and digital wallet companies from various countries, with a combined total of 130 million users, are collaborating to move away from Visa and Mastercard.

Adieu Visa et Mastercard : 130 millions d'Européens basculent vers un paiement 100 % souverain dès 2026 - Les Numériques
https://www.lesnumeriques.com/banque-en-ligne/adieu-visa-et-mastercard-130-millions-d-europeens-basculent-vers-un-paiement-100-souverain-des-2026-n250918.html

Many people rely on services and products from the United States, a major economic power, and America's influence is also immense in the field of digital payments used to purchase these items. Many people choose American companies like Visa and Mastercard as their primary credit card brands.

This presents problems such as large transaction fees being sent to the United States with each card payment, and data such as 'who bought what, where, when, and for how much' being stored in the U.S. Furthermore, reliance on digital payment methods raises national security concerns, as demonstrated by Visa and Mastercard suspending payments within Russia in 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In response to this situation, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) , an integrated digital payment service supported by 16 banks and financial services companies in Europe, launched Wero , a mobile payment service unique to Europe, in 2024. You can find out more about Wero by reading the following article.

Moves to promote independent digital payment systems in Europe are accelerating to reduce reliance on Visa and Mastercard - GIGAZINE

Then, in May 2026, it was announced that major digital payment service companies such as Bizum from Spain, Bancomat from Italy, MB WAY from Portugal, and Vipps MobilePay from the Nordic countries would officially partner with Wero.

This project is based on the premise of building a central interoperability hub managed by a joint organization to be established by the four companies and EPI in the first half of 2026. The new platform will allow users to send money across services in the same way they have always done. For example, a French user using Wero will be able to send money to a friend in Spain using Bizum, just as they would send money domestically.

The rollout will be phased in, with person-to-person transfers becoming available in all 13 countries, including Andorra and Sweden, by 2026, and online and in-store payments expected to be available by 2027. This move is projected to see 130 million people switch away from Visa and Mastercard.