Is Europe Dumping Visa and Mastercard?

My Medium friends can read this over on Medium.

YouTube is full of videos right now that say Europe DUMPS Visa and Mastercard. Caps included. One of them adds "5 Giants FORMALLY UNITE, US Kill Switch DEAD."

In May, I wrote that Europe is ditching Visa and Mastercard. And that it's a huge step.

So, let's look at what changed since then. And what didn't.

European Network for Payments

On September 30, five European payment systems founded a joint company: Wero, Bizum from Spain, Bancomat from Italy, MB Way from Portugal, and Vipps MobilePay from the Nordics. It's called European Network for Payments, it sits in Madrid, and all five own an equal share.

Together they reach about 130 million users in 13 countries. That's over 70 percent of the population of the EU and Norway.

That's where the "five giants" in the video titles come from.

The new company will run a hub that connects the five apps. The first phase is sending money between people across borders. A Spanish Bizum user pays back a German Wero user, for example. Online shops and stores come in later phases. There are no dates for those.

And the first phase isn't live yet either. According to the press release, the partners "are now preparing the technical implementation."

In May, the plan was a hub in the first half of 2026. Now there's a company to run it. The hub comes later.

Wero

Wero itself keeps growing. EPI says it has 58 million users now. In March, EPI's CEO Martina Weimert told Reuters it was 52.5 million. So roughly a million new users a month.

Over 48,000 merchants in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands have taken Wero payments. In Germany, you can pay online at Lidl, dm, Decathlon, and Eventim.

In stores, Wero is just starting. In Germany, it works in a few places, EV charging for example. In Belgium, Payworld is adding Wero to its terminals: you scan a QR code and pay. Broader point-of-sale in France and Germany is planned "progressively from 2027 onwards."

The Netherlands moves iDEAL into Wero by 2027. Luxembourg moves Payconiq this year.

Wero has been in my banking app since last year. Paying with it at a German supermarket checkout... that's planned from 2027.

Visa and Mastercard

Piero Cipollone from the ECB's Executive Board said it in a speech in February:

International card schemes account for two-thirds of card transactions in the euro area.

And 13 out of 21 euro countries don't even have a domestic card scheme. Paying by card there basically means Visa or Mastercard.

None of the news above changes that today. Your Visa or Mastercard works everywhere it worked in May.

Wero runs next to them.

Digital euro

The second track is public money: the digital euro, issued by the ECB.

In July, the European Parliament voted 416 to 169 to start negotiations on the law. Next, Parliament, Council, and Commission have to agree on the final text. The goal is to finish it by the end of 2026.

The ECB plans to issue the digital euro in 2029.

That's too slow for Weimert. In the same Reuters interview, she warned that the US limiting Europe's access to its payment infrastructure "can happen very quickly." And that fear is helping Wero, she says.

Understandably so.

There is always a catch

The "kill switch" line in those videos doesn't hold up. As long as two-thirds of card payments run on international schemes, Europe depends on them. A hub for sending money to friends doesn't change that.

And person-to-person is the small piece. Paying back your cousin in Lisbon for dinner is nice. But most of the card volume is in shops and online checkouts, I would guess.

Also, almost every big step is 2027 or later. Stores in France and Germany from 2027. iDEAL by 2027. The digital euro in 2029.

A lot can happen by then. Governments change. Priorities too.

The Bottom Line

So, is Europe dumping Visa and Mastercard?

Not this year. Probably not next year either.

The cards stay in our wallets for a while. Wero comes in next to them, one country at a time.

If you're not already, follow me on Medium.