European Payments Initiative CEO says Trump fears are boosting its appeal

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Elizabeth Howcroft

PARIS, March 26 (Reuters) - Fears that President Donald Trump's medication could bounds Europe's entree to U.S. payments infrastructure are boosting determination adoption of a competing ‌European outgo platform, the CEO of the European Payments Initiative (EPI) told Reuters.

The Brussels-based institution has developed Wero ‌to service arsenic an alternate to Mastercard, Visa and Apple Pay, which present predominate in-store payments successful Europe.

Founded successful 2020 by a radical ​of 16 large European banks, including BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, and payments providers, it has since grown to 45 members, with fintechs Mollie, Worldpay, and N26 among the companies to person joined successful caller months.

EUROPEANS FEAR GETTING CUT OFF FROM US PAYMENTS SYSTEM

EPI's CEO Martina Weimert said that determination was a consciousness of urgency astir reducing European ‌dependence connected U.S. firms. Asked successful an ⁠interview if merchants were preparing for the anticipation that the Trump medication could chopped Europe disconnected from its fiscal systems, she said "absolutely" and said 2 large merchants had cited ⁠international resilience arsenic a crushed for utilizing Wero.

"It's not similar this is retired of the blue, wholly vague scenario," Weimert said. Those things tin hap precise quickly, she said.

Trump's "America First" policies, which upend the planetary bid and are fraying longtime ​transatlantic ties, ​have spurred European Union efforts to trim its reliance connected ​U.S. companies successful strategical industries, from payments ‌to technology.

Wero, launched successful 2024, faces an uphill battle. It is truthful acold lone utilized for peer-to-peer transfers, portion planetary paper schemes including Visa and Mastercard relationship for two-thirds of euro country paper transactions, according to the European Central Bank.

National outgo schemes backed by banks successful Spain and Italy besides rise concerns of fragmentation, contempt their pledges to collaborate connected a pan-European platform.

DIGITAL EURO SCEPTICISM

Wero is present disposable to customers successful Belgium, France and Germany and ‌its fig of users has risen to 52.5 cardinal from ​43.5 cardinal successful September, inactive a fraction of Europe's payments industry. ​EPI plans to grow to Luxembourg and the ​Netherlands successful the adjacent year.

Weimert said she saw the integer euro, which the ECB plans ‌to contented successful 2029, not arsenic contention but ​as thing that could beryllium ​integrated into Wero's wallet, and was disquieted if it would get soon enough.

"I don't person a occupation with the integer euro. What I find rather unusual is that successful the existent context, wherever we ​clearly each time would say, 'Oh, we ‌have a occupation with European sovereignty,' to say, 'Oh, let's hold different 5 years earlier the integer ​euro is determination and past anticipation that this volition work.'"

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Elizabeth ​Howcroft; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Tomasz Janowski)