The European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) announced the start of the transition to the system of instant cross-border payments between mobile payment services Bancomat, Bizum, MB Way and Sibs (Iberia). This innovation will allow users to send and receive money using mobile numbers in real time. About this informs Finextra.
EuroPA integrates the national payment systems of Italy (Bancomat), Spain (Bizum) and Portugal (MB WAY), reaching more than 50 million users and 186 financial institutions from four countries. All of these solutions hold leadership positions in local markets, with more than 2 billion transactions through them in 2024 — more than 65% of all instant payments in these states.
It is assumed that by June 2025, all participating banks in the specified countries will be integrated into a single system of instant transfers. By analogy with the European Payment Initiative (EPI), the EuroPA alliance seeks to create an independent European payment platform that could compete with American card systems and return control over transactions to the European level.
It is expected that the activities of EuroPA will expand, both through new use cases and through the accession of other countries, including those outside the Eurozone.
We will remind you that last year the European Parliament finally approved the norm according to which all transfers in euros within the EU must reach the recipient within 10 seconds. This decision is aimed at increasing the transparency, security and predictability of bank payments for citizens and businesses.
