European Payments Initiative Buys Two Fintech Firms

A European initiative originally set to provide an alternative to Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay for cross-border payments said it has agreed to acquire two fintech firms while scaling back its plans.

The European Payments Initiative (EPI) initially planned to begin providing payments services last year, but halted that drive after half its initial 30 member banks pulled out.

The organisation said it has agreed to buy Dutch payments firm Currence Ideal and Luxembourg-based app Payconiq (PQI).

It said it now plans to launch a digital wallet with an instant payments system in Germany and France by the end of the year.

Cross-border payments

The organisation said it intends to add other European countries and new features such as buy now, pay later financing, digital identity features and merchant loyalty programmes.

The EPI now has a shareholder base of 16 lenders, mainly in France, Germany and the Netherlands, including BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and ING.

It said Belfius, DZ Bank, ABN Amro and Rabobank have joined existing backers.

“We are developing a new, scalable platform to address the modern and evolving payment needs of European consumers and merchants in the best possible way, with efficient, state-of-the-art technology,” said EPI chief executive Martina Weimert.

Commercial launch

The wallet is to be launched in a pilot phase by the end of this year with a broader market launch to including Belgium scheduled for 2024.

The EPI said those markets together represent more than half of all non-cash payments in the euro area.

“Expansion to other European countries will follow,” it added.

The EPI did not disclose financial terms of the acquisitions of Cerrence Ideal and Payconiq but the Financial Times reported the firms would cost up to 70 million euros (£62m) in total.