European Payments Initiative, the bank-led group behind the Wero wallet, has launched an ecommerce version of the service in Belgium, making it possible for users to pay online at participating merchants and extending the project’s effort to build a European alternative to international card schemes.
EPI announced the deployment in Brussels on 3 March 2026, describing Belgium as the second market to enable Wero online payments after Germany, where ecommerce was launched in late 2025. The group stated that the feature adds to invoice payments and peer-to-peer transfers already available in Belgium.
Martina Weimert, EPI’s chief executive, said the Belgian launch and planned rollouts in France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands marked “another important milestone” in building “a secure and truly sovereign payment solution”.
Belgian banks and merchants join early
Wero’s ecommerce payments in Belgium are being deployed and powered by ING, KBC and BNP Paribas Fortis. Belfius is expected to follow “in the coming weeks”, while other banks including Argenta, Bank Van Breda, Beobank, Bunq, Crelan, Keytrade Bank, Nagelmackers, Revolut and vdk bank are set for progressive integration in the second half of 2026, which EPI said would also enable peer-to-peer and ecommerce transactions. It added that more banks enabling online payments would be announced later.
Among the first Belgian merchants to express their intention to activate Wero online, EPI listed Ahold Delhaize, Bpost, Just Russel, Pairi Daiza and Parfum Dreams. The group also reiterated a set of merchants announced earlier in Germany, including Air Europa, Decathlon, Dott, Eventim, Lidl and Veepee, which it said should enable customers to complete transactions through Wero throughout 2026.
Acquirers and infrastructure focus
EPI said Wero’s Belgian ecosystem is being supported by acquirers and partners including Worldline and Buckaroo, alongside Doccle and Pom, and that Mollie and Stripe are among those involved. Additional acquirers and partners will be announced later, it said.
Joachim Goyvaerts, chief executive of Worldline Belgium, said Worldline had enabled the first Belgian Wero ecommerce payment for the Red Cross, and argued merchants could add Wero “without additional set-up or operational effort”, with immediate confirmation of successful payments and simplified reconciliation.
EPI is pitching Wero’s infrastructure as a way to reduce friction for merchants. The group said its “100% API-based infrastructure” is intended to simplify onboarding and allow merchants to connect with consumers across participating European markets, while providing users with a cross-border payment experience.
Next markets and platforms
EPI said three other markets are expected to launch Wero for ecommerce in 2026: France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It added that the migration of the iDEAL solution in the Netherlands to Wero has “just started”.
The group also reiterated planned migrations of at least 15 million consumers from Payconiq in Luxembourg by 2026 and from iDEAL in the Netherlands by 2027. It said point-of-sale payments are also expected to be offered in 2026, alongside value-added services such as integration of merchant loyalty programmes and recurring payments and subscription management.
On the consumer side, EPI said Wero is live for peer-to-peer payments in Belgium, France and Germany since 2024 and serves 50 million users. It described Wero as based on instant account-to-account payments, designed to remove intermediaries in the payment chain and the “associated additional costs”.
EPI counts support from 16 European banks and payment service providers and now has more than 25 members, with “30 more to come”.
