Towards interoperable wallets in Europe: Insights from the France Payments Forum Pay Tech Day

A roundtable on the future of wallets in Europe was recently held under the auspices of the France Payments Forum, Hervé Sitruk, and co-moderated by Emmanuelle Wisniewski (Projective Group) and Rémy Belloir (Thalès). The discussion brought together key players from the European payments landscape, including EPI, Bizum, Vipps, Google Europe, and BPCE, at a critical moment in the development of interoperable wallet infrastructure.

Interoperability gains momentum

The roundtable took place shortly after the joint announcement by EPI and Europa regarding their ambition to enable interoperability between digital wallets across Europe. This marks a significant step toward addressing fragmentation and building a coordinated, European-wide wallet ecosystem.

A shift in EPI’s strategy

One of the most notable insights came from Martina Weimert (CEO EPI), who commented the announcement and shared the two main directions that EPI and Europa were considering:

• Building a pan-European routing infrastructure to interconnect wallet schemes.
• Developing a common acceptance layer to ensure unified merchant experience across Europe

While the second option remains highly ambitious, the first is seen as more immediately actionable and already aligned with initiatives such as Vipps, Bizum, and Europa.

Panel Takeaways 

Key players around the table shared their perspectives and priorities:

• The national solutions reaffirmed their strong support for wallet interoperability at European scale—a key signal of collective momentum.
• BPCE highlighted the importance of pragmatism and agility in driving progress
• Google emphasized its openness and focus on delivering seamless user experiences
• A shared interest across all participants emerged: the future role of the European Digital Identity (EUDI Wallet) and its integration into wallet ecosystems

What’s next?

These exchanges underscored the trend for greater collaboration across European stakeholders, from banks to wallet providers, schemes, and tech players. A formal announcement from EPI and Europa is expected by the end of summer 2025, detailing its chosen strategic path.

These exchanges underscored the trend for greater collaboration across European stakeholders, from banks to wallet providers, schemes, and tech players.

Über Projective Group

Gegründet im Jahr 2006 ist die Projective Group ein führender Spezialist für Change im Financial Service Bereich.

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