The European Payments Initiative (EPI), the pan-European payment scheme behind Wero, has become a member of nexo standards, the organisation that develops open payment specifications and messaging protocols for payment acceptance. Through the membership, EPI aims to make Wero practical for merchants to accept across European markets by securing support from a wide range of payment providers and acceptance technologies.
EPI was established to create a sovereign and unified payment alternative for Europe. Wero, its account-to-account payment solution, currently counts 60 million users, and the scheme’s stated objective is for it to become an everyday payment choice for both consumers and merchants across the region.
Open standards and acceptance infrastructure
The specifications developed by nexo standards are based on ISO 20022 and allow payment acceptance systems to communicate using a common framework. By joining, EPI confirms its intention to have Wero supported on a broad range of acceptance infrastructure. The membership also allows EPI to follow developments in how these standards are applied to account-to-account payments.
The move addresses a practical challenge for the scheme. Scaling Wero requires acceptance infrastructure that can accommodate European account-to-account payments across different markets and technical environments, which remain fragmented. According to EPI, open standards can help address this fragmentation by simplifying connections between payment systems and supporting the integration of new payment methods. Joining nexo standards is therefore aligned with EPI’s approach of supporting compatible acceptance solutions.
Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI, noted that Europe’s payment ambitions need to translate into practical choices for consumers and businesses. For Wero, this means building a European solution that merchants can accept across different markets and payment environments, and that is offered by all banks across the continent. EPI presents open standards and interoperability as conditions for achieving this, and describes the membership as part of its ambition to bring greater European payment choice to everyday commerce.
In-store rollout planned for 2027
Wero’s contactless payment feature, based on QR code scanning, already illustrates this approach. A demonstration at NRF Europe in Paris in September 2026 showed how Wero payments can be supported on payment terminals operating within a nexo-based acceptance environment.
EPI plans to develop such use cases further as part of its in-store payment rollout across markets in 2027. The rollout is set to include NFC integration in the long run, extending Wero beyond QR-based acceptance at the point of sale.
For payment providers, acquirers, and merchants, the membership signals that EPI intends Wero’s physical retail acceptance to build on a shared, ISO 20022-based framework. With the in-store rollout scheduled for 2027, it also places EPI within the standards work that shapes how account-to-account payments are handled at payment terminals across Europe.
