Major European payment providers are moving to build a shared network that connects cross-border payments while keeping national payment services unchanged. The move aims to reduce dependence on U.S.-based global payment networks and strengthen Europe’s payment sovereignty.

On Oct. 5, TechRadar reported that Italy’s Bancomat, Spain’s Bizum, Portugal’s SIBS-MB WAY, Nordic provider Vipps MobilePay and the European Payments Initiative (EPI) jointly established the European Payments Network (ENP). EPI runs the mobile payment service Wero. The five companies set up a joint entity in Madrid based on a memorandum of understanding signed in February.

ENP will link existing services through a common technical and operational layer rather than merging them into a single service. Users will be able to send money to, or make payments to, users in other countries while continuing to use familiar apps and brands. The participating services currently have about 130 million users across 13 European countries. Other European payment providers can also join later.

The first stage will focus on cross-border person-to-person (P2P) transfers. It will later expand to e-commerce and in-store payments and build a pan-European payment network based on account-to-account instant transfers (A2A). The five companies previously set a goal of enabling seamless cross-border payments by 2027.

The push comes as Europe’s payments market relies on overseas operators. The European Central Bank said about 61 percent of euro zone card payments in 2022 were processed by international card networks, and 13 euro zone countries depended entirely on international networks without domestic card schemes.

The European Commission also pointed out that Europe’s electronic payments market is dominated by a small number of global operators, and that national payment services face difficulties expanding across borders because of differences in technical standards such as QR codes, NFC and Bluetooth. ENP aims to address this fragmentation by linking existing national champions and creating a pan-European payment option.