Revolut is adding EPI’s Wero wallet to its app this summer —giving European
consumers a sovereign payments option that isn’t wearing Stars and Stripes.
Europe Wants Its Own Payment Muscle. Enter Wero.
Revolut, Europe’s favorite fintech enfant terrible, is shaking up the
payments scene again — this time with a very local twist. The neobank has just
inked a deal with the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to bring the EPI’s Wero wallet to millions of its users in France,
Belgium, and Germany, starting this July.
Revolut is rumoured of joining Wero Payments – Europe’s answer to @Visa and @Mastercard. According to sources of Finanz-szene, Revolut is not joining as the shareholder of the “European Payments Initiative” (EPI) – the company behind #Wero, but as a “scheme member”. Meaning it… pic.twitter.com/XH9REZYh4S
— Max Karpis (@maxkarpis) May 24, 2025
It’s happening.
Wero — Europe’s would-be answer to PayPal, Apple Pay, and other
transatlantic giants — enables instant, account-to-account money transfers,
fully compliant with European regulations. And Revolut, which already knows a
thing or two about scaling fast, is giving the wallet a major new distribution
boost.
EPI’s chief strategy officer Ludovic Francesconi framed it simply: “Our
mission is to create a real European solution, wallet, innovative solution
based on instant payment.” No more fragmented, cross-border mess. No more
defaulting to American rails for EU transactions. The geopolitical subtext?
Strong.
Why Revolut Is Betting on Wero
For Revolut, this is as much about strategy as sovereignty. “We are
really focusing on getting primacy of wallets,” said David Tirado, Revolut’s VP
of global business. Translation: Revolut wants its app to be the one-stop shop
for every payment its users make — whether that’s paying rent, splitting
drinks, or checking out online.
Revolut has already done this successfully in Spain with Bizum and Poland
with BLIK. Now, Wero is next — and crucially, a cross-border play.
“We think that the next evolution of our journey to enable our
customers to pay where and how they want, is to partner with Wero,” Tirado
added. It’s about building stickier user behavior, giving Revolut customers one
more reason not to stray to Apple Pay or PayPal.
For now, Wero and Revolut will cover France, Belgium, and Germany —
markets that collectively represent over 60% of EU retail payments .
What Wero Actually Does — And What’s Coming Next
Here’s the meat of it:
·
Peer-to-peer payments —
instant, free-of-charge, using just phone numbers or email addresses.
·
Over 40 million users
already registered since its 2024 launch.
·
Fully integrated inside the
Revolut app, starting this summer.
And coming soon:
·
E-commerce payments:
starting late 2025 in Germany and Belgium, then France in 2026.
·
In-store payments, subscriptions,
and loyalty services rolling out from 2026.
·
Integration with Worldline
to allow merchants in Germany (and later elsewhere) to accept Wero online.
·
Compatibility with iDEAL in
the Netherlands and Payconiq in Luxembourg.
For Revolut, this dovetails perfectly with its €1
billion investment in France and plans to make Paris its Western European
HQ. Coincidence? Not really.
The Bigger Game: European Payment Sovereignty
It’s not just a Revolut story. The EPI’s goal is clear: reduce Europe’s
reliance on American payments infrastructure — where even now, most EU
cross-border digital payments run through US-owned networks.
“In the current geopolitical situation, it’s even more important to be
independent in terms of payments, including for cross-border transactions in
Europe,” Francesconi said. “When you go from France to Spain, Germany, or
Netherlands, you have to use American solutions — unless you use cash.”
Problem is, cash is declining fast. Europe needed a fix — and with the digital
euro still years away, EPI is moving now. Wero is step one.
The ambition? Surely, Pan-European coverage. The rollout starts with
five markets (France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg) but will
expand — and Revolut, with its pan-European user base, is a perfect on-ramp.
Bottom line for investors and traders: Revolut’s deepening European
play — especially as it moves toward a Western Europe HQ in Paris — signals how
embedded fintech players are becoming in the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda.
Watch this space.
For more stories around payments, visit our dedicated pages.
Revolut is adding EPI’s Wero wallet to its app this summer —giving European
consumers a sovereign payments option that isn’t wearing Stars and Stripes.
Europe Wants Its Own Payment Muscle. Enter Wero.
Revolut, Europe’s favorite fintech enfant terrible, is shaking up the
payments scene again — this time with a very local twist. The neobank has just
inked a deal with the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to bring the EPI’s Wero wallet to millions of its users in France,
Belgium, and Germany, starting this July.
— Max Karpis (@maxkarpis) May 24, 2025
It’s happening.
Wero — Europe’s would-be answer to PayPal, Apple Pay, and other
transatlantic giants — enables instant, account-to-account money transfers,
fully compliant with European regulations. And Revolut, which already knows a
thing or two about scaling fast, is giving the wallet a major new distribution
boost.
EPI’s chief strategy officer Ludovic Francesconi framed it simply: “Our
mission is to create a real European solution, wallet, innovative solution
based on instant payment.” No more fragmented, cross-border mess. No more
defaulting to American rails for EU transactions. The geopolitical subtext?
Strong.
Why Revolut Is Betting on Wero
For Revolut, this is as much about strategy as sovereignty. “We are
really focusing on getting primacy of wallets,” said David Tirado, Revolut’s VP
of global business. Translation: Revolut wants its app to be the one-stop shop
for every payment its users make — whether that’s paying rent, splitting
drinks, or checking out online.
Revolut has already done this successfully in Spain with Bizum and Poland
with BLIK. Now, Wero is next — and crucially, a cross-border play.
“We think that the next evolution of our journey to enable our
customers to pay where and how they want, is to partner with Wero,” Tirado
added. It’s about building stickier user behavior, giving Revolut customers one
more reason not to stray to Apple Pay or PayPal.
For now, Wero and Revolut will cover France, Belgium, and Germany —
markets that collectively represent over 60% of EU retail payments .
What Wero Actually Does — And What’s Coming Next
Here’s the meat of it:
·
Peer-to-peer payments —
instant, free-of-charge, using just phone numbers or email addresses.
·
Over 40 million users
already registered since its 2024 launch.
·
Fully integrated inside the
Revolut app, starting this summer.
And coming soon:
·
E-commerce payments:
starting late 2025 in Germany and Belgium, then France in 2026.
·
In-store payments, subscriptions,
and loyalty services rolling out from 2026.
·
Integration with Worldline
to allow merchants in Germany (and later elsewhere) to accept Wero online.
·
Compatibility with iDEAL in
the Netherlands and Payconiq in Luxembourg.
For Revolut, this dovetails perfectly with its €1
billion investment in France and plans to make Paris its Western European
HQ. Coincidence? Not really.
The Bigger Game: European Payment Sovereignty
It’s not just a Revolut story. The EPI’s goal is clear: reduce Europe’s
reliance on American payments infrastructure — where even now, most EU
cross-border digital payments run through US-owned networks.
“In the current geopolitical situation, it’s even more important to be
independent in terms of payments, including for cross-border transactions in
Europe,” Francesconi said. “When you go from France to Spain, Germany, or
Netherlands, you have to use American solutions — unless you use cash.”
Problem is, cash is declining fast. Europe needed a fix — and with the digital
euro still years away, EPI is moving now. Wero is step one.
The ambition? Surely, Pan-European coverage. The rollout starts with
five markets (France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg) but will
expand — and Revolut, with its pan-European user base, is a perfect on-ramp.
Bottom line for investors and traders: Revolut’s deepening European
play — especially as it moves toward a Western Europe HQ in Paris — signals how
embedded fintech players are becoming in the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda.
Watch this space.
For more stories around payments, visit our dedicated pages.
This post is originally published on FINANCEMAGNATES.
