BLIK has joined forces with European payment systems, aiming to launch a pilot that will enable users to send money directly to one another by phone number.
Following this announcement, the demonstration of a phone-to-phone transfer from Portugal and Spain to Poland marked the overall launch of the pilot phase of a project aimed at integrating BLIK with other European mobile payment systems. This process is expected to enable users to send money directly to one another by phone number.
In the initial stage, the pilot is set to cover the receipt of mobile transfers by BLIK customers, sent by users registered with partner payment systems operating in the region of Europe, including Portugal’s MB WAY, and later Spain’s Bizum, Italy’s Bancomat, and the Nordic Vipps. On the BLIK side, the project will involve a selected group of Santander Bank Polska customers, as the initiative is currently being developed within the EuroPA Alliance, of which BLIK has been a member since May 2025.
More information on BLIK joining forces with European payment systems
According to the official press release, the overall cooperation between mobile payment systems on international phone-to-phone transfers within the EuroPA network already has the potential to connect multiple users and customers across the region of Europe. With this in mind, the collaboration aims to reach the goal of providing secure and efficient international mobile transfers to over 450 million Europeans, regardless of the country in which their bank account is held.
Furthermore, international phone-to-phone transfers between users of different mobile payment systems are usually based on the SEPA Instant scheme, which processes real-time EUR transactions. The pilot programme was developed in order to optimise the process of identifying all technical requirements that payment service providers in the region of Poland must meet in order to enable mobile transfers between European systems and BLIK users.
During the Web Summit 2025 conference in Lisbon, the very first test P2P transaction involving BLIK users was made, as a transfer was sent from the Portuguese system MB WAY to a Santander Bank Polska customer whose phone number is registered with the BLIK service. In addition, it was also announced that within the next few weeks, the pilot group is expected to be expanded in order to include customers of PKO Bank Polski. Regarding this project, work is currently underway to implement the functionality for receiving and sending EUR P2P transfers within the IKO mobile app as well.
In addition, implementation efforts in Slovakia are progressing and are set to soon enable BLIK users within the euro area to carry out international BLIK phone-to-phone transfers. This initiative is set to take place as part of the cooperation between European mobile payment systems as well.
This announcement comes as Europe’s payments industry is entering a new phase, one defined by collaboration, interoperability, and the pursuit of digital sovereignty. For several decades, its fragmented landscape has stood in stark contrast with the dominance of the Visa and Mastercard duopoly. Now, with the rise of instant payments, regulatory momentum, and the ambition to strengthen European payment authority, a new chapter is unfolding. With this in mind, The Paypers sat down with representatives of each EuroPA member organisation, who provided several insights into their strategy, the future of instant payments in Europe, and the overall main roadblocks ahead.
