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The European Payments Initiative is facing an uncomfortable test of its own strategic logic. Created to build a pan-European payments alternative to the dominant US card networks, the bank-backed consortium is now seeking to reduce its reliance on the very US technology infrastructure that underpins parts of its service.
EPI confronts dilemma for Payments sovereignty
EPI was established with the explicit aim of strengthening Europe’s payments autonomy and resilience.
Its Wero wallet, launched for person-to-person payments in Belgium, France and Germany in 2024, now serves 53mn users and is intended to become a broader European payment scheme capable of challenging Visa and Mastercard across everyday commerce.
Sovereignty meets operational reality
The problem is not one of ambition but infrastructure. EPI has acknowledged that Wero still depends on some cloud services provided by non-European suppliers.
When the wallet was first launched, the organisation says only large international cloud providers could offer the performance, security and reliability required for a competitive payments product.
That explanation is commercially credible. Payments systems require low latency, high availability and robust cyber resilience. A sovereign alternative that performs poorly would struggle to win consumers, merchants or banks, regardless of its political appeal.
Yet the contradiction remains stark: a project designed to reduce Europe’s exposure to foreign payments infrastructure is still partly dependent on foreign cloud infrastructure.
Geopolitics sharpens the urgency
The issue has become more sensitive as European policymakers, including the European Central Bank, push harder for payments independence in a more volatile geopolitical environment.
Donald Trump’s tariff agenda has reinforced concerns in Brussels and Frankfurt about Europe’s dependence on external providers for critical financial infrastructure.
EPI says all Wero data is stored in European data centres, encrypted and protected against potential extraterritorial access. It is also working to increase its use of European-based cloud providers as the market matures.
A test of credibility for Wero
For Wero, the transition will need to be carefully managed. Moving too quickly could compromise performance; moving too slowly could weaken the project’s sovereignty credentials.
The strategic challenge is therefore clear: EPI must prove that Europe can build not only its own payments brand, but the technological foundations beneath it.
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