From Brussels with Love: Building a Homegrown Alternative to Big Tech Payments
Shouldn't we rethink payment sovereignty in Europe? What are we doing to address this major challenge in the digital age and ensure Europe's economic independence? Faced with rising geopolitical tensions and technological dependence on non-European technologies, is it not imperative that we embark on a strategic transition towards resilient, sovereign, and interoperable payment solutions? The need for resilient and autonomous payment infrastructures has never been more crucial. Europe is taking action on several fronts. Which ones? We also need to address technologies of concern and the ultra-dominance of Visa and Mastercard, Applepay, and Google Pay. How can we become independent from Paypal, Alipay, and other giants? Will instant payment, the digital euro, WERO, etc. be enough? Are we not ultra-dependent on non-European clouds (i.e., AWS, AZURE, etc.)?
The Last Mile to Sovereignty: How Europe Can Win Back its Payments
In short, we would say: yes. We should (and we are starting to) rethink payment sovereignty in Europe. But the current toolkit (instant payments + Wero + a possible digital euro) is necessary, not sufficient. What’s missing is scale at the point of sale and online checkout, stricter resilience/sovereignty guardrails for cloud and Big Tech dependencies, and a unified merchant‑friendly A2A (i.e. Account-to-Account) experience that’s as easy as cards. We must find alternative solutions to the existing leading credit card providers and ensure a fierce and fair competition in Europe to support our merchants and reduce costs/fees (included in all-in price) for consumers. European sovereignty in the area of payments (in particular) is a crucial issue that we must not neglect, at the risk of being swallowed up by non-European entities that would impose their laws and prices. This is typically in line with the objectives of the Von der Leyen II Commission to create and strengthen competition in Europe and the competitiveness of European companies. Unfortunately, time is not on our side, and it is time to act quickly and decisively.
From Instant to Sovereign: Building Europe’s Next Payment Chapter
What’s moving now?
Instant payments made “default‑cheap & available”: The EU’s Instant Payments Regulation entered into force in 2024. From 9 Jan 2025, euro‑area PSPs must price instant transfers no higher than regular transfers and at least be able to receive them; further deadlines follow in 2025/26. This is the backbone for A2A retail payments.
EPI’s Wero wallet rollout: A pan‑EU bank‑backed wallet launched in 2024 (FR/DE/BE first; NL during 2025) and is expanding from P2P to in‑store/online merchant payments. It explicitly targets dependence on Visa/Mastercard, PayPal and Big Tech wallets.
Apple forced to open iPhone NFC in the EU: The Commission made Apple’s HCE/NFC access commitments legally binding (10‑year term). This removes a key barrier for EU wallets at the physical POS.
Digital euro preparation phase: The ECB’s third progress report (July 2025) confirms work on a retail CBDC design; the Governing Council will decide on the way forward after the prep phase ends Oct 2025 (issuance only after EU law is passed).
Open‑finance rails beyond PSD2: The FiDA proposal (Framework for Financial Data Access) will extend data‑sharing beyond payments accounts—key to richer A2A journeys and credit‑risk tools for merchants. In parallel, the EPC’s SPAA scheme creates commercial, premium APIs to make A2A commercially viable; SRTP (SEPA Request‑to‑Pay) v4.0 goes live 5 Oct 2025.
Operational resilience and cloud oversight (DORA): Since 17 Jan 2025, DORA applies across EU financial services, with ESAs preparing oversight of critical ICT third‑party providers (read: hyper-scalers) and joint examination teams, an essential lever against single‑vendor cloud risk.
Pricing/competition guardrails on cards: The EU Interchange Fee Regulation caps consumer card IFs at 0.2% (debit) / 0.3% (credit); Visa/Mastercard also extended caps on certain non‑EU cards to 2029 after EU scrutiny. However, the Scheme Fees are not controlled and credit card actors not supervised (we noticed a significant increase over last couple of years, which is worrying merchants).
What’s missing?
Checkout ubiquity: Card rails still carry ~56% of non‑cash transactions in the euro area (H1‑2024). A2A must show the same simplicity, guarantees, and dispute/chargeback UX to convince merchants and consumers.
Cloud sovereignty clarity: The EU cloud security label (EUCS) remains politically fraught; sovereignty requirements were watered down in 2024 drafts, even as GAIA‑X pushes a federated model. Clear, binding safeguards (keys, jurisdictional control, exit) are uneven today.
Pan‑EU merchant incentives: Interchange caps restrain card costs, but we lack EU‑level incentives (pricing/settlement benefits, risk tools) that systematically steer merchants and PSPs toward A2A at scale.
The Payments Power Play: Europe’s Fight for Financial Independence
What are the strategic pillars of European payment sovereignty, is a key question to address. How to solve our problems and mitigate risks?
1. Make instant A2A the easy default at checkout
We can mandate “A2A acceptance parity” for large merchants in regulated sectors (utilities, public services, transit, government), then expand. Combine SRTP (pull request) + SCT Inst (real‑time push) for one‑tap experiences. We also need commercial viability via SPAA, to ensure banks publish premium APIs with predictable pricing/service levels; push acquirers/PSPs to bundle A2A with reconciliation, fraud, and settlement guarantees. Let’s keep in mind that wallets are not just rails. We can certainly scale Wero beyond P2P into universal retail acceptance (POS, e‑commerce, subscriptions, in‑app). Apple’s NFC opening removes a structural block for iOS acceptance.
2. Diversify away from card‑scheme lock‑in without breaking what works
We should keep IFR caps and competition enforcement; leverage DMA/antitrust to prevent mobile‑OS gatekeeping (Apple case sets a precedent). We would be well advised to support domestic schemes (e.g., Carte Bancaire, Girocard) to interoperate pan‑EU via Wero/SEPA tokenization, offering merchants a credible alternative mix to Visa/Mastercard for intra‑EU flow (Inference supported by ECB stats and Wero ambition). Then we can supervise credit cards providers to better control scheme fees and technological imposed constraints for merchants.
3. Cloud & resilience: sovereignty by design, not by slogan
DORA gives supervisors tools to oversee critical ICT providers and concentration risk; use it: designate hyper-scalers as CTPPs where criteria are met, enforce exit/portability and robust contractual clauses. We should push EUCS to finalize with meaningful transparency on data location/law, plus technical safeguards (customer‑held keys, confidential computing). Where feasible, prefer EU‑controlled KMS/HSM and multi‑region, multi‑cloud with tested exit plans (DORA RoI & testing). We can eventually support GAIA‑X federated services for specific workloads that need jurisdictional control or data‑space participation (mobility, health, finance).
4. A programmable euro for contingency and competition
EU could position the digital euro as cash‑like public money available online/offline with privacy by default, small balances, and offline resilience (chip‑to‑chip). We should not oversell it as a Visa/Mastercard replacement; but use it to guarantee continuity in crises and anchor competition at the retail layer.
5. Open finance to unlock better risk & acceptance economics
We can advance FiDA to let merchants/PSPs access consented data for risk scoring, refunds, chargeback‑like protections and invoice reconciliation—closing today’s A2A UX gap with cards.
There is no magic formula, but rather a series of solutions and products to support and guarantee in order to create more competition (in the interests of both retailers and consumers). With time working against us, we must act quickly and decisively to prevent the “dominant players” from becoming even more dominant and oligopolies from becoming entrenched.
Digital Euro, Wero, and Beyond: Europe’s Blueprint for Payment Autonomy
Will instant payments, the digital euro, and Wero be enough? Tough question. But in general civil servants at EU level think it will be. It depends when and may not be enough. At short term (2025‑2026), they will shift the frontier, not topple the card duopoly. We can expect A2A share gains first in bill‑pay, P2P, payouts, and selected e‑commerce use cases, helped by instant payments pricing rules and NFC openness. Cards will remain dominant at POS for now, and maybe for long time. At medium term (2027‑2029), with SRTP v4.0 live (Oct 2025), SPAA commercial APIs, and Wero merchant rollout, Europe can materially reduce dependence on PayPal/Big Tech wallets for intra‑EU flows, if merchant economics and liability frameworks are competitive. Eventually, the digital euro can be valuable as a public option and resilience tool; it won’t, by itself, displace private payment schemes. A political deal is targeted around 2026, with any rollout coming later.
Breaking the Chains: Achieving True Payment Sovereignty in Europe
Nevertheless, there are concrete EU actions to accelerate sovereignty (next 24 months). We can list some.
1. Acceptance targets & incentives
Setting-up of EU‑level acceptance targets for A2A in public sector & network industries; enable fee‑cap or rebate schemes for merchants accepting A2A alongside cards to reach scale quickly (analogous to early card acceptance pushes). (Inference consistent with IPR/IFR policy direction.)
2. A2A liability & protections
Definition of an EU “A2A chargeback‑equivalent” framework for unauthorized/fraudulent transactions and non‑delivery disputes, harmonized with SRTP messages, to match card‑like confidence at checkout.
3. Pan‑EU tokenisation & credential vaulting
Standardization of SEPA payment tokens and mandate account updater‑like services via SPAA, enabling one‑click recurring A2A payments and subscription management comparable to card vaults.
4. NFC & OEM wallet neutrality enforcement
Monitoring of Apple’s compliance; extend neutrality expectations to Android OEMs and wearables where needed, using DMA/antitrust if access barriers reappear.
5. Cloud resilience hardening
Use of DORA to designate and actively oversee hyper-scalers as CTPPs where criteria are met; require tested exit/multi‑cloud architectures, EU‑resident encryption keys, and jurisdictional control for critical payment data. Finalize EUCS promptly with enforceable disclosures on data location and applicable laws; where sovereignty is critical (e.g., CBDC infrastructure), consider higher‑assurance profiles.
6. Merchants & PSPs: migration toolkit
Publication of an EU Merchant Playbook (pricing, reconciliation, refunds, fraud tooling) showing how to integrate SRTP + SPAA + SCT Inst via acquirers/PSPs, and how to present A2A prominently yet neutrally at checkout.
Practical guidance for corporate treasurers & merchants (what to do now)
We should move now and fast and for example, enable Instant + SRTP pilots in high‑volume bill‑pay and B2B use cases; negotiate with your PSP/acquirer for A2A routing where acceptance is strong. We could add Wero (and local A2A wallets) alongside cards in France/Germany/Belgium now; prepare for Netherlands, and measure cost‑per‑accepted‑payment vs. cards/PayPal. Treasury departments can also adopt SPAA‑ready PSPs to access premium bank APIs (refunds, VRP/dynamic recurring, account verification) that close operational gaps with cards. We can review the cloud risk program per DORA, and make the inventory of critical payment workloads, design multi‑cloud failover, hold our own keys, and document exit plans and testing. We can expect ESA oversight of critical ICT providers in 2025–2026. With mobile POS strategy and with iPhone NFC open, we can ensure our wallet/app provider can do tap‑to‑pay without Apple Wallet; require OEM neutrality clauses in contracts.
The European Payments Sovereignty Agenda: Building Independence by Design
“Instant payments + Wero + digital euro” are a strong foundation, but sovereignty requires scale at checkout, cloud‑resilience enforcement, and card‑like protections on A2A rails. If the EU executes on IPR + SPAA/SRTP + DMA enforcement + DORA oversight, Europe can materially reduce dependence on non‑EU schemes and Big Tech wallets by the late 2020s, while keeping an open, competitive market for consumers and merchants. We know that solutions are coming and that they will be beneficial. But we must ensure that we are guaranteed their effectiveness, their imminent arrival, rather than being delayed (because time is our worst enemy), and that, overall, the European market becomes more open, more competitive, and less expensive (if possible) in the joint interest of merchants and consumers. Another daunting challenge, indeed.
François Masquelier, CEO of Simply Treasury – August 2025 – Luxembourg