Following this announcement, the company is set to launch a new European payment application Wero to customers and partners in Belgium, while its own application will continue to exist and the Payconiq brand name will disappear.
Bancontact Payconiq Company is a local payment scheme owned by the country's five largest banks, which offers its services to all consumers, merchants, and financial institutions. This European project was designed to offer a service under the brand name Wero, which was developed in order to allow customers to pay with their smartphones outside the country's borders.
In addition, Wero will focus on making pan-European instant payments and transfers possible in the long term, as in Belgium it has been integrated into the apps of the four major banks. This development raised multiple questions about the future of Bancontact Payconiq and the relevance of a national payment system. In practice, Wero is expected to offer the same and more functionalities as the Payconiq by Bancontact app, but on a European scale. In the region of the Netherlands and France, the banks have already decided that Wero will eventually take the place of their national systems.
According to officials of the company, customers will be enabled to scan a QR code via Wero, as the transaction will then be converted into a Bancontact payment. A2A payments will be made in the same way, while the transactions between clients of the four major banks will go through Wero as well. In addition, for other types of transfers, the process will be a Bancontact transaction that is integrated into the app. Both the company and the app are expected to be renamed by the end of 2026.
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