(06 July 2020 – Europe) Sixteen major European banks have agreed to comply with the European Union’s (EU) new standard for digital payments, commonly known as the European Payments Initiative (EPI).
EPI aims to unify digital payment solutions across Europe by leveraging instant payments and instant credit transfer for merchants and consumers. Currently, more than 50 percent of retail payments are made by cash. Existing digital payments solutions are fragmented in Europe and European consumers are still not able to pay digitally everywhere. The EPI will enable merchants to offer unified digital payment solutions for all European consumers.
Santander, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, ING and Commerzbank are amongst those who have already agreed to comply with the EPI from five countries including Belgium, France, Netherlands and Spain. The door still remains open for financial providers to join the initiative until the end of the year.
“In order for the EU to strengthen the single market it is necessary to develop its digital payments to advance its economic recovery” commented East & Partners Europe Market Analyst, Pierre Sokoya.