Twenty European banks are working on setting up a pan-European payment system to bypass Visa, Mastercard and technology companies such as Google and PayPal, confirmed to AFP sources involved in this project.
According to the sources, the Pan European Payment System Initiative (PEPSI) is aimed at managing all all forms of cashless transactions.
The idea came from the European Central Bank, which has been pushing for a system to allow Europeans transfer money to each other instantly, a French banking source close to the subject said. The ECB was "worried about the sovereignty of payments and explained that it would appreciate if we looked into the issue," adding that it was chiefly a "political not a technical initiative", said the source.
None of the banking groups contacted by AFP would speak openly about the project. However, according to various sources, only banks from countries in the euro zone (Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain) are involved in the initiative, including a large part of French banks and Deutsche Bank in Germany.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now
We welcome comments that add value to the discussion. We attempt to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam, and our editors frequently review the comments to ensure they are appropriate. If you see a comment that you believe is inappropriate to the discussion, you can bring it to our attention by using the report abuse links. As the comments are written and submitted by visitors of the The Paypers website, they in no way represent the opinion of The Paypers.