European payments groups join forces to challenge US dominance

European payments groups join forces to challenge US dominance rte.ie

European payment groups serving 130 million people said they were joining forces to create a cross-border payments network as Europe seeks to curb its dependence on Visa and Mastercard.

35 points•vrganj•about 5 hours ago•42 comments•

#european #forces #payments #groups #challenge #join #dominance #european payments

42 comments

petcatabout 4 hours ago

These all require Google or Apple devices both by the seller and the buyer. Wero explicitly does not even support non-Google Android devices.

I'm not sure that replacing Visa and MasterCard is really that big of a sovereignty move considering the pervasive dominance American mobile OS tech has. It's a much harder ecosystem to replace.

abcd_fabout 3 hours ago

You can't be serious. Getting rid of the need to pass purchases through these two American behemoths will be a huge step in the right direction.

gib444about 1 hour ago

A step in an easily avoidable muddy puddle

bediger400036 minutes ago

Heartily agree, even for Americans. I realize there's economies of scale and network effects, I'm not a libertarian, but the US electronic money situation is very bad. No pressure to innovate, be secure, be anonymous, and a small number of business people (out of touch CxOs) arbitrarily debank people and market segments.

jeroenhdabout 3 hours ago

Updating an app to not require the Play Store is a lot easier than switching payment provider backend.

Wero can fix the dependency on Google in a day, I don't think the dependency on Google is as bad as the broader dependency on Mastercard/Visa is.

That said, I'd much prefer a European implementation of the same remote attestation APIs that Google uses to convince payment processors that phones can be trusted to manage finances.

On iOS you don't really have a choice so until someone runs Linux on an iPhone, iPhone users are just screwed.

M95Dabout 3 hours ago

> to convince payment processors that phones can be trusted to manage finances

Phones can NOT be trusted to manage finances. They should issue EU credit/debit cards instead.

zb3about 3 hours ago

Yep, they can allow GrapheneOS, right now. So let's pressure them into doing that.

petcatabout 3 hours ago

> I'd much prefer a European implementation of the same remote attestation APIs that Google uses to convince payment processors that phones can be trusted to manage finances.

You're basically talking about "government Android phone" since it is built into the chips on the device.

I wonder how 330 million average Europeans will respond to not being able to use iPhones or Google Android phones anymore because they are instead being forced to use "government Android phone" for safety from USA.

I think they'll actually just revolt against the government instead

znnajdlaabout 3 hours ago

You've got to start somewhere. You peel each layer off the dependency stack one at a time.

sho_hnabout 3 hours ago

Once you have payment processing in-house, the decision of what devices to support is yours to make.

If you don't, two lock-ins and network effects reinforce each other.

bilekasabout 3 hours ago

They don't though, unless I'm missing something stupid there is parity across all national options. And here for example the bank itself has Bancomat AND Visa as an option to pay by at a POS or online etc.

This will allow me to use my card online with a merchant in Germany for example and use my Bancomat process (whatever the new interface is called) will be the gateway.

bilekasabout 4 hours ago

So many people commenting that seem to miss what this is. It's the merging of national systems to simply allow a second option. Meaning no influence oversize from the duopoly. See steam news with visa for an example of then throwing their weight.

hdgvhicvabout 2 hours ago

Visit most major economies outside the west and you find non visa ways to pay. Alipay, PayNow, UPI, PayPay, Pix etc.

bilekasabout 1 hour ago

Right, and now the EU will have a consolidated one. It's a clear great step!

pjc50about 3 hours ago

One thing I'd like to check: what are the actual exclusion rules for these systems? The Visa/MC threat to anything deemed vaguely adult content is well documented, but what is and is not allowed on Wero?

M95Dabout 4 hours ago

It's all based on phone apps, replacing Visa/Mastercard dependency with Apple and Google dependency. Far worse for privacy IMO.

Lioabout 4 hours ago

Not sure it could be worse for privacy but even it was it would still stop Visa and Mastercard from refusing to carry payments.

That's exactly what they did to high profile European judges. You can't pull that stunt and expect to get away with it long term.

https://www.euronews.com/2026/02/18/us-sanctions-turn-intern...

bilekasabout 4 hours ago

No it's not. Here in Italy your debit card allows you to pay by bancomat or Visa.

makeitdoubleabout 2 hours ago

Apple and Google are bound to Visa/Mastercard's rules. There is basically no EC without the V/M, and Apple and Google won't be happy just selling hardware. How are you paying for your apps and services ?

Looking at it from the privacy lens doesn't help when it's a matter of directly controlling the money flow.

hhhabout 3 hours ago

is Wero based on apps? iDeal only involves the banking app for me, the iDeal part is just a website

socoabout 4 hours ago

Nevertheless, that app could be one day running with F-Droid and such... or that's what I dream. The infrastructure is only one piece of the huge dependency puzzle.

silon42about 3 hours ago

I remember when there was Eurocard/Mastercard...

Read the full thread on Hacker News →

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