European payment schemes team up to challenge Visa and Mastercard

Five of Europe's biggest domestic payment schemes have agreed to link up, forming a cross-border network intended to challenge the dominance of Visa and Mastercard. Bancomat, Bizum, Wero, Sibs-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay are behind the effort, each already a household name in its home market.

The grouping spans much of the continent, from Italy and Spain to Portugal, the Nordics and the Benelux countries served by Wero. Individually, the schemes handle large volumes of everyday payments, but none has the reach to take on the global card networks on its own.

By connecting their systems, the partners hope to give merchants and consumers a European alternative to the card networks that currently dominate cross-border transactions. If it works, the venture would mark one of the most ambitious attempts yet to knit together Europe's fragmented retail payment landscape, potentially cutting costs for retailers and reducing reliance on infrastructure owned outside the region.

Whether the alliance can translate domestic loyalty into genuine scale is an open question. Visa and Mastercard have built decades of acceptance, and European consolidation attempts have faltered before. Still, the move signals a growing appetite in Europe to build payment rails that answer to local rules and local interests.