“Cash is still the most frequently used means of payment at the point of sale, but its share is declining according to the latest study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area, published today by the European Central Bank (ECB). Cash was used for 59% of point-of-sale transactions in 2022, down from 72% in 2019. It is the means of payment most often used for small-value payments in stores and for person-to-person transactions.”

“The European Central Bank released on 29th September 2022, their latest progress report on the investigation phase of their digital euro project and elaborates on foundational design features approved by the Governing Council. The report highlights key operational transfer mechanism requirements for the digital euro including:  Online validation by third-parties; Offline functionality (where payee or payer are not connected to the internet) and peer-to-peer validation; Privacy level at least equal to current private sector digital solutions; Compatibility with current regulatory framework.”

“Tink, Europe’s leading open banking platform, and Revolut, the global financial super app with more than 18 million customers worldwide, have entered into a strategic partnership for open banking technology.  Tink’s payment initiation services (PIS) technology will allow Revolut users across Europe to seamlessly move money into their Revolut account. PIS enables users to connect to the bank account they want to move money from, and instantaneously authorise and complete the payment without leaving the Revolut app.”

“Modulr, the embedded payments platform, has today announced it has launched its real-time Euro payments service, based on the real-time pan European SEPA Instant scheme, which operates 24/7, settles funds in 10 seconds and presents European businesses with significant competitive opportunities. The new service enables customers to build and launch embedded real-time Euro payment propositions via the Modulr API, allowing them to send and receive payments immediately, under their own or Modulr’s regulated status. By embedding real-time payments directly into their software, businesses in the European market will be able to deliver efficient and competitive payment propositions more easily and quickly than previously possible.”

“The digital euro investigation phase is moving forward with an exercise to explore user interface solutions for making payments with digital euro.  The ECB has launched a call for expression of interest for payment service providers, banks and other relevant companies to join an exercise to develop prototype user interfaces. Selected front-end providers will form a pool of providers with which the ECB can collaborate on the development of prototypes that address specific use cases for the payment process.”

“Yet despite this surfeit of choices, many of Europe’s largest banks are backing an effort to build a new European-wide payments network that could replace national payments networks and challenge the dominance of Visa and Mastercard across the continent…Previous efforts to create such a pan-European payments network failed. Most recently, one called the Monnet Project collapsed before it ever got off the ground in 2011. This time, the project is likely to at least make it to launch. That’s because the new European Payments Initiative (EPI for short) is as much about politics as it is about business.”

“More than 30 of Europe’s largest banks and credit card processors are trying to create a payments giant capable of shattering a US-dominated “oligopoly”. A Brussels-based venture, which currently employs 40 payment experts, has until September to draw up a blueprint for a pan-European payments service that can be used to pay online as well as in stores, to settle bills between individual consumers and to withdraw cash at ATMs. “The idea is to build a European payment champion that can take on PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Google and Apple,” said Joachim Schmalzl, the chair of the European Payment Initiative.”