ING Germany has expanded Wero to cover ecommerce transactions, adding online retail to its existing P2P payments capability.
Since its integration into the ING app in August 2025, Wero has operated primarily as a P2P transfer tool, enabling real-time A2A payments that typically settle within ten seconds. The expansion into online retail introduces a second use case, positioning Wero as a checkout option alongside established digital payment methods.
Merchants and rollout
According to the official press release, customers can already use Wero for online purchases at Eventim. IKEA Germany and the Lidl online shop are confirmed as forthcoming partners. ING has not disclosed a full timeline for additional merchant integrations.
Wero is operated by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium of European banks and payment service providers formed to develop a pan-European payment infrastructure independent of non-European providers. Transactions are processed under EU data protection and regulatory frameworks, with customer data held by the respective banks rather than shared with third parties.
The German launch is part of a broader EPI rollout. ING Belgium began offering Wero for online purchases in March 2026. France is expected to follow within months, while national payment solutions in Luxembourg and the Netherlands are slated for migration to the Wero platform. A point-of-sale capability for physical retail is also in development, though no launch date has been confirmed.
Onboarding and adoption
ING Germany reports that approximately 600.000 customers (representing around 15% of its current account holders) have activated Wero, which a company representative described as among the higher activation rates in the German market. In order to accelerate further uptake, ING has revised its onboarding process: Wero's product terms and conditions have been incorporated into the general terms and conditions for current accounts, meaning new customers automatically consent to Wero access upon account opening.
The structural shift in onboarding is notable. Embedding service consent into account-level terms reduces friction at the point of sign-up, which could meaningfully accelerate activation among new account holders without requiring a separate opt-in step.
The timing of the ecommerce expansion aligns with growing regulatory and political interest in European payment sovereignty. EPI has positioned Wero as an alternative to card networks and international wallet providers, a framing that carries weight as EU policymakers continue to scrutinise the dominance of non-European payment infrastructure in retail transactions.
