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Banks in Spain, Italy and Portugal are joining what this article describes as France’s Wero system [1]. («L'initiative française Wero».) Focus this year is on
by JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
Banks in Spain, Italy and Portugal are joining what this article describes as France’s Wero system [1]. («L'initiative française Wero».)
Focus this year is on P2P transfers. Commerce is targeted for 2027. Given EuroPA has done a token amount of transactions to date, I’m not sure anyone should hold their breaths.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment)
- toomuchtodo 6mo agoWero – Digital payment wallet, made in Europe - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47038965 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47038965 - February 2026 (132 comments) Europe's Banks Launch Wero Payments to Dislodge Visa, Mastercard - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41666833 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41666833 - September 2024 (88 comments) Unofficial Wero Adoption Tracker - https://www.werotracker.eu/ https://www.werotracker.eu/
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo agoI wish Wero was a real alternative but it seem to be a thin wrapper around Bank APIs and SEPA instant transactions. It has pretty much non of the functionality that PayPal or other services give. It just makes it easier to send money with a phone number instead of an IBAN. My bank doesn't even support it.
- rbanffy 6mo ago> My bank doesn't even support it. It's not like it's that difficult to implement. Most Brazilian banks implemented a similar protocol in months.
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo agoTell that to my bank. I am a software developer. I could probably do it. But I don't work there.
- upcoming-sesame 6mo agostill waiting for my bank to implement TOTP 2FA or passkeys instead of their home grown "memorize 7 digits number and we will ask you 4 random positions"
- KeplerBoy 6mo agoIsn't that much better than PayPal? Why would i want my money to end up in some intermediate PayPal account?
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo agoPayPal isn't without flaws but I think buyer protections and the obfuscation of the banking info are genuine features for people. I would like a real competitor to PayPal in Europe. Maybe even something that is not from a private company. What I fear is that people will try Wero, see that it's not what they wanted and then never go back. But maybe I'm wrong.
- piva00 6mo agoIsn't a wrapper making the ergonomics better valuable enough? In Sweden we have Swish for domestic transfers, if I could use Swish (or if Wero took it over) the same way to transfer money to my friends living in other EU countries I'd be very, very happy. What kind of functionality PayPal offers that is much better? Using cards instead of direct debit?
- tyfon 6mo agoVipps which is available in Sweden supports this system. I know the Swedish government is also pressuring swish to integrate with vipps. So I guess you'll have this ability soon.
- robin_reala 6mo agoThat’s what EMPSA[1] is trying to push. But Swish aren’t particularly interested in playing an active part.[2] [1] https://empsa.org/ https://empsa.org/ [2] https://nyheter24.se/nyheter/ekonomi/privatekonomi/1452366-darfor-star-swish-utanfor-nya-europeiska-betalsamarbetet https://nyheter24.se/nyheter/ekonomi/privatekonomi/1452366-d...
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo agoI don't think it is. If you want people to move, you need to give them something. And SEPA but with phone numbers isn't it. At least not for me. Especially if it means that I am dependent on whether my bank implemented it. I have recently seen people surprised when they sent a Wero transaction and the other party could see their IBAN.
- piva00 6mo agoYou still didn't clarify: what PayPal features make you think that way? I don't personally know anyone who uses PayPal, the only times I used it was for transferring money using F&F to purchase 2nd hand music gear.
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo agoI think it's maybe a regional thing. Most people in Germany seem to have PayPal and a lot of them are aware of their buyer protections. I had to use them myself once. PayPal seems to be a default for online purchases and transactions between people.
- trashb 6mo ago> non of the functionality that PayPal or other services give What functionality are you looking for exactly? I use paypal to transfer money to other accounts & pay for online shopping, possibly in other valuta. In my opinion Wero (earlier I used IDeal) is easier then paypal for this purpose
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo ago> What functionality are you looking for exactly? * Buyer protection * Obfuscation of my banking data (IBAN) * Having access to it with my bank * Not needing to share my contact list At the moment I don't see much improvement over an instant SEPA transaction. Since both parties will see each other's IBAN anyways with Wero I can just give out my IBAN.
- trashb 6mo ago> Buyer protection Wero does introduce some sort of chargebacks and disputes, buy from reputable sellers and otherwise you are still free to use paypal for additional protection (but don't send money as "Friends & Family"). > Obfuscation of my banking data (IBAN) IBAN is public facing and it is not a problem to share. It is the identifier of your account therefore required to make transfers. Money can't be charged with your IBAN. With paypal you share your e-mail. > Having access to it with my bank Your bank is the one that is providing the access to the Wero service, it will pull from or deposit into your bank account. > Not needing to share my contact list I don't see how this is required. The strength of Wero is that it will be a unified friction less way of making digital transfers. It finds a similar place in the market that in the USA is filled by Venmo or Cash app however if you have a bank account you can use it. I think it speaks volumes that no one within the Netherlands uses Paypal, but iDeal is the de-facto standard for all online payments there.
- BadBadJellyBean 6mo ago> Your bank is the one that is providing the access to the Wero service, it will pull from or deposit into your bank account. I mean my bank is not available in Wero. And A lot of other banks are the same. PayPal or Klarna just works. > IBAN is public facing and it is not a problem to share. It is the identifier of your account therefore required to make transfers. Money can't be charged with your IBAN. With paypal you share your e-mail. I know but a lot of people don't see it that way. Not me. But I know they are. > Not needing to share my contact list AFAIK you need to sync your contacts to them to send a person money. I am not sure though because I don't have access. Please don't misunderstand me. I want something like Wero in Europe. I just hope that it's not the wrong thing and people will be disappointed and less likely to try something new.
- Carbon1603 6mo agoIsn't the whole point of existence of WERO that European banks got scared of digital Euro and started implementing something to get in the market first?
- timpera 6mo agoWero is not French, but it has replaced France's Paylib. It's pretty awesome and seems to quickly have replaced all other apps (Lydia, PayPal) for small payments in my friend and family circles. I'm excited to see it expand to PoS payments.
- DalasNoin 6mo agoCan you confirm people in france actually use wero? I had heard of it every so often but basically zero people actually use it, my revolut app has a feature to use wero but never used it. I mean would be great, getting rid of CC fees could literally lower grocery prices by 1-2%.
- timpera 6mo agoI can only speak from my experience, but yes, multiple people (a few friends, people at work, and my uncle) have suggested to "make [me] a Wero" lately to pay me back small amounts. The fact that's it's integrated into the existing banking apps helps.
- outout14 6mo ago[dead]
- pjerem 6mo agoI use it for basically every payment with friends. The greatest force of Wero is that, being from a bank consortium and not "another app", you can send money to people that don't even know the system exists as long as you have their phone number because the money will go straight to the bank account registered with this phone number. You don't need to register to the service to receive money so basically anyone holding an account in a compatible bank can receive funds instantly. Which means, as the person sending the money, you don't have to tell your friends to install it.
- thibaut_barrere 6mo agoEvery single friend to friend transfer around me is done via wero these days. And between business SEPA more and more.
- bouk 6mo agoiDeal is an enormous success in the Netherlands so if banks implement it as well in other countries then it will definitely be competitive with credit cards for online payments
- timpera 6mo agoiDeal is in the process of being replaced by Wero, which is pretty cool!
- DonHopkins 6mo agoWero sounds weirdo, but iDeal sounds like a confession you sell drugs.
- spockz 6mo agoWero is the pan-European successor to ideal. Other countries had something similar. We are now converging on using the same technique and mechanism everywhere. It also takes a bite out of payment providers like adyen because they managed the different payment methods for shops. In the future you only need to use Wero.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- mytailorisrich 6mo agoWhat's the benefit of this over contactless payments?
- mcv 6mo agoIt works over the internet.
- mytailorisrich 6mo agoHow does it work when you need to pay for something in person? (what contactless is for)
- trashb 6mo agoYou use your bank card or contact less payment from your bank app. Optionally you scan or get send a payment request, and pay through Wero.
- mcv 6mo agoThat's what you use contactless for. Different systems have different purposes. Although people have also been known to use Tikkie or other payment request systems for in-person payments. Backed by iDeal, or now Wero.
- lxgr 6mo agoQR codes for now, unfortunately.
- jeroenhd 6mo agoIn some countries there is a payment system that works by generating QR codes at checkout and scanning those with your phone. I don't know if Wero intends to also support those, but it could make for a direct integration into live checkout. I think the Digital Euro initiative is closer to replacing contactless payments than Wero is, but it'll depend on the country I think.
- mcv 6mo ago
- microtonal 6mo agoEhm. Wero is partially based on the Dutch iDEAL system, which has been hugely successful. Pretty much all purchases from Dutch webshops are paid through iDEAL as well as many P2P payments. It's also supported by international payment services (iirc Stripe and Shopify). If they manage to replicate it in other European countries, Werk will be huge. Moreover, it's supported by many banks.
- pimterry 6mo ago> Given EuroPA has done a token amount of transactions to date, I’m not sure anyone should hold their breaths. The Spanish equivalent (Bizum) is merging into Wero is not a token use case, it's absolutely massive here. The absolute standard for peer-to-peer payments, more than 30 million users (>65% of the population), and they already launched contactless terminals for in-person commercial payments this month (https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/03/bizum-goes-contactless-from-may-youll-be-able-to-pay-in-shops-across-spain/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/03/bizum-goes-contactless...).
- JorgeGT 6mo agoIndeed Bizum is almost default now here in Spain, and for instance the equivalent in Sweden, Swish, is also almost default there. Went trekking into a national park, and the rangers will leave a number to Swish a bit of money if you want to use the fire pits; no other payment means.
- DanielHB 6mo agoI wouldn't say Swish is the default in Sweden because it doesn't support contactless payments. It is widely available though but many, many places only accept card/contactless payments. Of course, Swish is the default for person-to-person transfers, but not for payments. Opposite is also true, some lower-value places (like fruitstands, street vendors) don't accept card/contactless because they don't want to pay visa mastercard fee. I have no numbers but I would guess at least 50% of non-cash transactions are still card/contactless. I wouldn't be surprised if this number is 90%.
- bborud 6mo agohttps://www.swish.nu/faq/private/how-do-i-pay-by-tapping-the-phone https://www.swish.nu/faq/private/how-do-i-pay-by-tapping-the...
- upcoming-sesame 6mo agosame for MBWay in Portugal