Wero, the digital wallet built by the bank-owned European Payments Initiative (EPI), continues to grow into the pan-European alternative to international card schemes that its founders set out to create. Around 56 million people were using the service by August 2026, up from roughly 53 million at the start of the year.
Luxembourg joins, Payconiq retires
On 1 September 2026 Wero launched in Luxembourg, later than first planned. The launch came with a full switch of the country’s established Payconiq network to Wero, which also brought in-store payments to the wallet there. Payconiq was scheduled to be discontinued in Luxembourg on 30 September.
From sending money to paying merchants
Wero started as a way to send money between bank accounts in seconds using a phone number. The more important step for the payments market is acceptance by merchants:
- E-commerce is live in Germany and Belgium, with France next and Luxembourg and the Netherlands following during 2026.
- The Netherlands is migrating iDEAL, its dominant online payment method, to Wero, a process that begins in 2026.
- In-store and omnichannel payments are planned across the same five countries.
Because Wero runs on SEPA instant credit transfers, money moves directly from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s, without a card network in between.
Growing pains
The expansion has not been entirely smooth. According to German media reports, a sign-up bonus campaign launched in mid-September was stopped after five days, when a large number of one-cent transfers made to qualify for the bonus were flagged by a bank as possible fraud and some accounts were temporarily frozen. The episode shows how sensitive bank fraud controls are to unusual account-to-account patterns.
What it means for businesses
Merchants selling to customers in Germany, France and the Benelux countries should ask their payment provider when Wero will be available at checkout. Dutch merchants in particular will need a plan for the iDEAL transition. For everyone else, Wero is the clearest test so far of whether account-to-account payments can win a meaningful share of European online checkout.
Sources: European Payments Initiative, Finextra, The Paypers, WinFuture.
