{
  "id": 11495002,
  "title": "Europe is building its own payment network to finally compete with Visa and Mastercard",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/europe-is-building-its-own-payment-network-to-finally-compete-with",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-02T17:47:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechSpot",
    "slug": "techspot",
    "url": "https://www.techspot.com/news/114077-europe-wants-break-free-us-payment-giants-new.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The European Network for Payments (ENP) is a newly formed joint venture aimed at securing Europe's independence in the payments industry. This initiative seeks to enhance interoperability among competing networks, thereby creating a unified EU infrastructure that poses a significant challenge to US-based giants like Visa and Mastercard.\n\nLaunched in 2023, ENP is the brainchild of various European payment networks including Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy), Wero (a digital wallet company), SIBS-MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay. These networks already cater to the payment needs of 130 million users across 13 European countries, accounting for 70% of the population.\n\nENP's primary objective is not to create a brand new network but to foster stronger partnerships among the existing ones. The organization will focus on establishing a common technical and operational infrastructure, adhering to European standards. This common infrastructure will be implemented in a phased manner, beginning with cross-border payments and in-person transactions. Over time, ENP aims to extend its services to e-commerce, online payments, in-store point-of-sale transactions, and other forms of payment.\n\nThe European Payments Initiative's CEO, Martina Weimert, highlighted that a lack of cohesion has hindered the creation of a unified payment platform in Europe. ENP offers a cooperative approach to this challenge, inviting other EU-based payment organizations to join forces.\n\nFurthermore, the European Central Bank is also developing its own solution, the digital euro currency. In the future, this bank-controlled euro wallet could potentially complement ENP as another payment platform for European citizens.",
  "summary": "The original ENP initiative launched in 2023, but European sovereignty is now becoming a truly critical issue. The new network's founders include Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy), European digital wallet company Wero, SIBS-MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay. Read Entire Article",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}