EuroPA and EPI join forces to extend sovereign payments in Europe

The push for a sovereign European payments landscape has gained renewed momentum as the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and EPI Company (EPI) announce a landmark collaboration aimed at enhancing cross-border digital payments.

This strategic partnership brings together major domestic payment players – Bancomat (Italy), Bizum (Spain), MB WAY (Portugal), and Vipps MobilePay (Nordics) – to interconnect their services and tackle Europe’s longstanding fragmentation in retail payments.

The initiative will span 15 European countries, accounting for more than 382 million people, or 84% of the EU’s population plus Norway.

At its core, the collaboration aims to enable consumers and merchants to use familiar domestic payment solutions across borders – supporting in-store, online, and person-to-person use cases.

This effort reflects growing political and regulatory pressure to reduce the bloc’s reliance on non-European card networks and Big Tech payment solutions.

For years, European consumers have faced high costs, limited transparency, and sluggish settlement times when transacting across borders.

EuroPA and EPI’s approach – built on interoperability rather than replacement – offers a practical and scalable path toward European payment sovereignty.

The move has been widely welcomed by the industry.

“This is a timely step to address Europe’s sovereignty challenge in payments,” said Pratiksha Pathak, Head of Payments at RedCompass Labs.

“Interconnecting trusted local solutions offers a pragmatic way to reclaim control and modernise the continent’s payment infrastructure.”

The joint study is set to conclude by the end of summer 2025, aligning with the upcoming SEPA Instant Payments Regulation due in October.

Together, these efforts could mark a turning point: delivering faster, cheaper, and more secure euro transactions, while reinforcing Europe’s strategic autonomy in digital finance.