Viva.com adds Wero wallet after joining European Payments Initiative

Viva.com, which defines itself as the “first Tech Bank in Europe”, has become a member of the European Payments Initiative (EPI).

The move adds EPI-developed Wero to Viva.com’s payments and banking platform.

In a statement yesterday (22 July), Viva.com said the development supports its “position” as a pan-European banking infrastructure across 29 markets.

The company said the integration will launch in Belgium, France and Germany, with additional countries expected to follow as Wero expands.

According to its website, Viva.com provides services for businesses, including card acceptance via its Terminal app, add-on Google Play devices, and a payment gateway for online stores.

Viva.com Strategy senior VP Stefan Waterdrinker said: “Direct connectivity to local schemes and payment systems has always been central to Viva.com’s European strategy.

“By bringing payments, banking and financing together on a single platform, we enable businesses to operate across Europe through one integration, while meeting the local requirements of each market. Wero further strengthens this proposition by adding this important emerging European account-to-account payment method to our platform.”

The Wero digital wallet supports instant account-to-account transfers and is reported to have more than 57 million users across Europe to date.

Viva.com said Wero will join more than 40 payment methods available through its omnichannel payment acceptance platform.

The company also plans to support Wero’s expansion into NFC-based in-store acceptance as that capability becomes available.

EPI CEO Martina Weimert said: “We welcome Viva.com as an EPI member, which will help to speed up the deployment of Wero in ecommerce and later on in physical shops across Europe.

“Viva.com will enable its wide pool of merchants to activate Wero as a payment method for their final customers, which brings us one step closer towards our ambition to deliver a payment ecosystem made for Europeans, by Europeans.”

Earlier this year, Global Payments’ Worldpay business joined EPI as a Principal Member.