Frankfurt Although the majority of the original participants have withdrawn, some European financial houses are sticking to their joint payment project EPI. “The remaining 13 shareholders want to continue.” They are still convinced of the need and interest in a pan-European payment solution, said the head of the EPI intermediate company, Martina Weimert, the Handelsblatt.
The decision was made by those involved after a meeting on Friday. With the eleven financial institutions and two payment service providers, the project of the European Payments Initiative (EPI) still has a “critical mass and very successful players in payment transactions as supporters” from Weimert’s point of view.
From Germany, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe and Deutsche Bank are still there, from France BNP Paribas, BPCE Group, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, La Banque Postale and Société Générale, the major Dutch bank ING and KBC from Belgium, from Spain Santander and the two payment companies Worldline and Nexi.
EPI was founded by several major banks in 2020, with a total of 31 banks and two payment service providers joining the initiative. They started the EPI interim company, headed by Weimert and whose supervisory board is headed by savings bank manager Joachim Schmalzl. The aim was to create its own payment system in order to become more independent of powerful US corporations such as Mastercard, Visa and Paypal.
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However, the further planning for the EPI is probably about a slimmed-down model. “It’s unclear how the new concept will also treat cards,” Weimer said. So far, a payment card that can be used throughout Europe has been announced as an essential part of EPI. It is therefore unclear how much of the original EPI idea will ultimately remain.
DZ Bank, Commerzbank and HVB have left
Weimert explained that the focus would probably be on real-time payments (instant payments) and a payment wallet, an app or a digital interface in which the customer would find various payment services, but also his digital ID and, in the future, the digital euro. “It should definitely include the option of paying in e-commerce,” explained Weimert.
In the past few days, it has become increasingly apparent that numerous financial institutions are turning their backs on EPI and that the project in its current form is threatened with extinction. On Tuesday it became known that the DZ Bank, the leading institute of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, was canceling its participation, which caused anger among EPI supporters, especially the savings banks. Commerzbank had already withdrawn from EPI in January. The Hypo-Vereinsbank canceled last week. Banks from Italy and Austria were not there from the start.
The project name EPI should remain the same for the time being. The 13 shareholders have not yet started establishing the EPI target company, Weimert said. “We cannot found the company exactly as it was originally planned either.” A schedule for further steps, for example the founding of a target company, is now being worked out.
More: EPI payment project about to end: Savings banks attack cooperative banks after their cancellation