The EPI, a bank-backed venture established to counter giants like Mastercard in Europe, named its digital wallet solution as ‘wero’.
The primary motive behind introducing ‘wero’ is to provide a robust European alternative to the existing digital payment giants, streamlining P2P, consumer-to-business, online, mobile, and point-of-sale transactions.
Originally set up to offer a strong competition to dominant payment entities Mastercard and Visa in Europe, EPI has continually strived to innovate and expand its payment solutions. With the backing of major European banks and financial institutions, EPI is poised to redefine the digital payment landscape of the continent.
The ‘wero’ digital wallet is meticulously designed for a phased rollout. In its initial phase, it will support instant P2P and consumer-to-business transactions. This will soon be expanded to cater to online and mobile shopping payments, eventually culminating in enabling point-of-sale payments.
This strategic move of unveiling ‘wero’ was preceded by EPI’s decisions in April to acquire the renowned Dutch payment scheme iDeal and the mobile payment application Payconiq, a choice preferred by various Belgian and Dutch banks.
Endorsing EPI’s vision, numerous prestigious banks including ABN Amro, Belfius, BFCM, BNP Paribas, and more have extended their support. Notable names like Nexi and Worldline have also shown allegiance to this initiative.
EPI CEO Martina Weimert said, “In a market filled with predictable ‘pay’ brand names, wero stood out from a list of 238 candidate names we considered since it combines different elements which we stand for: the collective European character of the ‘we’ and a pronunciation close to the word ‘Euro’.
“Finally, wero is close to ‘vero’ meaning ‘true’ in Latin-based languages. I personally find it catchy with its simple yet memorable structure. The short and snappy sound resonates with the fast-paced nature of digital transactions.” She further highlighted that the joint venture is slated to launch wero by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany. It will subsequently be introduced in the Netherlands and other European nations in the forthcoming years.”
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