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Southern European payment solutions have announced the expansion of the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) initiative, building interoperability between national payment systems. 

The new cross-border payment integration will enable instant money transfers between Spain’s Bizum, Italy’s Bancomat and Portugal’s SIB.

“The launch of EuroPA and MB WAY interoperability marks a decisive step towards a more connected and unified Europe, with innovative digital payments developed on European infrastructures and standards,” said Madalena Cascais Tomé, CEO at SIBS. 

Ángel Nigorra, CEO of Bizum, commented that “the interconnection between the leading solutions already available in Europe is the most convenient way for existing users, who won't have to change their payment habits when making transactions with individuals in other countries”.

With this integration, more than 50m people and 186 financial institutions across four countries — Spain, Italy, Portugal and Andorra — will now be connected, significantly boosting Europe’s instant payment ecosystem.

Nigorra said they will be able to send money “in an environment they already trust and with a friendly, familiar, and simple customer experience”.

For example, in 2024 alone, Bizum, Bancomat and MB WAY processed more than 2bn transactions, representing more than 65 percent of all instant payments in the region.

EuroPA means that users of these payment solutions will now be able to send and receive money across borders just as easily as they do domestically, by selecting a contact from their phone book, with funds instantly available in the recipient’s account. 

The service is already live for institutions supporting SEPA Instant P2P MB WAY transfers in Portugal, while the other jurisdictions will see a phased rollout, with full availability expected by June this year. 

European sovereignty overkill?

There is currently much talk of European sovereignty, with the region’s dependency on foreign companies feeling starker than ever. 

In their press release, the companies say the “EuroPA initiative is aligned with the strategic objective of European self-sufficiency in payments, through the adoption of European SEPA standards and building on user trust in existing major European payment solutions and infrastructures”. 

They make clear that their reach is expected to grow and expand to more countries, both within the eurozone and beyond, simplifying the way people and businesses make payments in Europe. 

Following the expansion of peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, this initiative is also expected to expand to include additional use cases in the future with, according to the alliance, “the aim of strengthening an innovative and reliable European payments infrastructure”. 

The announcement comes at a time when Europe is pushing for greater autonomy in payments in multiple ways, including:

• The European Payments Initiative (EPI) and its digital wallet Wero, which is made up of banks in the Benelux region.
• The European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA), which is similar to EuroPA and includes members such as Swiss solution Twint.
• The European Central Bank’s digital euro. 

Although each project has the aim of strengthening Europe’s financial independence, their overlapping goals raise concerns about fragmentation, complexity and slow adoption. 

All this hinders that strategic autonomy, potentially benefiting the non-European payment providers that the EU wants less reliance on. 

With varying options, merchants may struggle to keep up with the technical and operational burden of integrating multiple payment systems. 

If each initiative requires separate onboarding, compliance or system upgrades, it could result in higher costs and slower adoption. 

Instead of simplifying payments, the proliferation of schemes could make it harder for businesses to offer seamless transactions. 

Consumers may also face confusion. If different European solutions compete for adoption rather than offering a unified experience, people might default to familiar global brands such as Visa, Mastercard or Apple Pay.

A fragmented landscape may deter adoption, particularly if acceptance varies across countries or merchants.

Rather than leading to a single, dominant European alternative to Visa and Mastercard, these initiatives risk cannibalising each other. 

As it stands, EuroPA and EMPSA focus on connecting existing national payment solutions, making it easier to transfer money across borders using familiar systems. 

EPI, through Wero, is a separate effort to create a new, pan-European wallet for both online and in-store payments, positioning itself as a direct rival to big tech wallets. 

The digital euro, meanwhile, is a proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) designed as a digital equivalent of cash for use across the eurozone. 

With multiple initiatives overlapping, the big question is whether they will complement or compete with one another.

If they fail to align, adoption may stall, hindering rather than helping Europe's payments sovereignty.