Many French and European banks have joined forces to offer a new free mobile payment service. Initially reserved for payments between individuals, the system will eventually make it possible to pay for purchases online and at merchants.

Many French and European banks have joined forces to offer a new free mobile payment service. Initially reserved for payments between individuals, the system will eventually make it possible to pay for purchases online and at merchants.

While the bank card remains the majority means of payment in France for online or in-store purchases, digital payment solutions have been developing rapidly for several years. In this area, it is American players who currently take the lion’s share, with well-known and widely used systems, such as PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. But European operators do not intend to sit idly by and let themselves be left behind in the race to modernize payment methods.

This Monday, September 30, 2024, the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a group bringing together sixteen European banks and payment service providers, has just announced the launch of Weroa news “European instant payment solution from account to account”. This system aims to allow all European citizens with a bank account to make fast and secure payments, directly from their mobile phone and without using their bank card. A promising project, which will be usable in France in the coming days.

Wero: how does this new European payment system work?

Like its counterparts PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay, Wero is therefore a digital payment system that can be used with a mobile phone. It allows you to instantly send and receive money into an account, without having to use a bank card. Indeed, banks and payment providers participating in the system directly associate a telephone number or email address with a bank account, which allows transactions to be carried out without having to enter the identifiers of an additional means of payment, such as a bank card therefore.

Transactions made through Wero will be instantaneous and the service will be available around the clock, every day. The payment system will be usable on smartphones, either via a dedicated application, or, and this is undoubtedly its biggest advantage compared to its competitors, directly from the bank’s mobile application. All banking establishments, with the exception of La Banque Postale for the moment, will in fact integrate Wero functions into their in-house app as soon as the service is launched.

Wero: where and when will the instant payment solution be available?

Good news, you won’t have to wait too long to start taking advantage of this new instant mobile payment service. According to the official press release from the European Payments InitiativeWero will be gradually deployed by participating French banks from the first half of October 2024, according to the schedule below.

The solution is intended to take over from the PayLib system currently in place, which should disappear at the beginning of 2025. Its users will therefore soon be offered a free and transparent migration to Wero, and transactions between the two systems will be possible until complete shutdown of PayLib. Wero is also already deployed in Belgium and Germany, citizens of these three countries will therefore be able to freely send money to each other via the new system as soon as it is implemented in France.

Wero: new payment functions planned for 2025

At launch, Wero will only allow account-to-account transactions between individuals. Initially, it will therefore be possible to exchange money very easily and quickly with loved ones or people you trust, simply using their telephone number or email address. A convenient way to instantly transfer money to your children or reimburse your friends after a dinner or a trip, for example.

But the system should also be enriched with new possibilities in the months following its launch. Thus, the EPI indicates that payment at merchants will be integrated from 2025, starting with small local businesses, then integrating large merchant sites and online services. As for payment in large physical stores, the first tests should begin in 2026. And ultimately, the system should even integrate modern financial functions, such as installment payment or merchant loyalty programs.

Certainly still embryonic at this stage, Wero therefore promises to be a promising digital payment system. Fast and easy to use, jointly adopted by most French and European banks, and available free of charge to a large part of European citizens, the newcomer therefore has the potential to become an accessible and popular European digital wallet solution in the coming years.