Simple Merchant Integration
The new cross-border payment method, which is initially launched in Germany, France and Belgium, will be available to merchants for the most important technical connections through the Computop Paygate payment platform.
All APIs, as well as the preconfigured Hosted Payment Page, will enable payments with wero without the need for major development. Retailers who are interested can register now for the pilot phase in Q4 2024.
Wero transactions will usually be carried out by the customer in the bank's own app or in the new wero wallet. Merchant apps will also be enabled to use wero payments in the future, while the payment process in desktop e-commerce will be triggered by QR code.
Wide availability for multiple countries
Wero will be available to customers of all banks participating in EPI as it is launched to merchants. In addition to savings banks and co-operative banks, these include BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING, Société Générale, KBC, Fortis, Belfius, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, BPCE, and La Banque Postale, wero will be available to around 85% of all bank customers in Germany, France and Belgium.
Merchants will benefit from the new payment method being expanded after the online launch, to include use in bricks-and-mortar retail and numerous other functions. These include reservations and refunds, so that a scope of services similar to that of the debit card can be achieved, with ‘payments without a terminal (scan and go)’ also added. Over time, additional value-added services like integration of merchant loyalty programs and BNPL will be integrated.
Stephan Kück, Managing Director of Computop, emphasises: ‘With the integration of wero, Computop is once again involved in the market launch of innovative payment methods and is therefore securing a competitive advantage for its merchants. As EPI will be structured as a four-parties scheme that is similar to credit card payments, merchants benefit in particular from the multi-acquirer concept of our payment platform. Another strong advantage is the unique merchant integration for multi-country merchants’
Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI: ‘Our collaboration with Computop marks the beginning of our e-commerce journey with wero, which will complete the payment scheme to be offered by the solution in the future. We’re pleased of this first agreement that will allow merchants to project themselves with a new payment scheme that fits their needs and the customer ones of easiness, security, service-offering and cost-effectiveness for both parties. We’re happy that Computop joins us empowering our European solution in our journey of setting up a real alternative to international solutions.Many more steps to follow…!”
ABOUT European Payments Initiative (EPI)
EPI or European Payments Initiative is backed by 16 European banks and payment service providers. They have joined forces with a common objective: to offer a unified digital payment service for all European businesses and citizens, wero. EPI intends to enable European consumers and merchants to make next-generation payments for all types of retail transactions via a digital wallet. Based on instant account-to-account payments, Wero will further streamline payments in Europe by eliminating intermediaries in the payment chain and the associated costs. Wero will initially support P2P payments. This will be followed by P2Pro payments and payments for online and mobile purchases. Point-of-sale payments will also be included, along with value-added services such as merchant loyalty programmes.
