Viva.com Joins EPI and Adds Wero to Its European Payment Platform

Viva.com joins the European Payments Initiative

Viva.com has joined the European Payments Initiative and added Wero to its payments and banking platform. The first phase covers Belgium, France and Germany, with additional markets expected to follow Wero’s wider European rollout.

Wero is an instant account-to-account payment solution developed by EPI. It allows users to pay directly from a bank account through an enabled banking app or the Wero wallet, rather than entering card details at checkout.

The announcement extends Wero’s merchant distribution through Viva.com’s European payment infrastructure. Viva.com operates across 29 markets and says Wero will join more than 40 payment methods already available through its omnichannel acceptance platform.

What merchants will be able to offer

For supported merchants, Wero becomes another payment option that can be activated alongside cards and other local methods. The initial focus is online acceptance, with Viva.com also planning to support Wero’s future NFC-based in-store capability as it becomes available.

The payment flow is based on account-to-account transfers. Customers authenticate through a participating bank or wallet environment, and the payment is initiated from their bank account. Wero states that supported transfers can be completed in 10 seconds or less, 24 hours a day, although the exact checkout experience depends on the bank, merchant integration and market.

EPI said Viva.com’s membership is intended to accelerate Wero acceptance in ecommerce and later in physical stores. The partnership therefore covers both the current online-payment phase and a longer-term point-of-sale roadmap.

Why local payment acceptance matters in Europe

Europe has a large but fragmented payment market. Consumer preferences, domestic payment schemes and bank integrations differ between countries, which can require merchants to manage several checkout connections.

Wero is intended to create a common European account-to-account experience while remaining connected to participating banks and local payment infrastructure. For merchants, a broader Wero distribution network could reduce the need to treat every participating country as a completely separate payment project.

However, adding a payment method to a provider’s platform does not guarantee immediate availability for every merchant. Commercial activation may still depend on the merchant’s country, account configuration, integration method, risk review and product rollout schedule.

Merchants should also evaluate Wero on its operational performance rather than its geographic branding alone. Important measures include checkout conversion, customer recognition, payment confirmation speed, refunds, reconciliation, fraud controls and the quality of reporting available through the payment provider.

Wero moves beyond person-to-person payments

Wero first became available for person-to-person payments in Belgium, France and Germany. Its development is now moving toward broader retail use cases, including ecommerce, payments to professionals and physical point-of-sale acceptance.

EPI’s July announcement said Wero reaches tens of millions of users across Europe. It also described planned migrations connected with Payconiq in Luxembourg and iDEAL in the Netherlands, which could further expand the system’s reach as those transitions progress.

The Viva.com integration is therefore part of a wider distribution strategy. Instead of relying only on banks to expose Wero to consumers, EPI is also adding payment providers and merchant platforms that can bring the method to online and physical checkout environments.

What remains to be confirmed

The announcement does not provide merchant pricing, a complete country-by-country activation timetable or detailed settlement terms. It also does not specify whether every existing Viva.com integration will receive Wero automatically.

Merchants will need to confirm supported markets, technical requirements, refund handling, settlement currencies, reporting fields and any payment-method-specific terms before launch. These details will determine whether Wero can be added as a straightforward checkout option or requires additional operational work.

The planned NFC expansion is also a roadmap item rather than a fully available feature across all markets. It should not yet be described as nationwide contactless acceptance in Belgium, France or Germany.

What the development means for European payments

Viva.com’s participation gives Wero another route into merchant checkout. It also shows how European account-to-account methods are being distributed through payment platforms that already combine local and international payment options.

For cross-border merchants, the main implication is greater payment-method choice. Customers in supported markets may increasingly expect to use a bank-native method they recognise instead of entering card credentials.

The long-term impact will depend on adoption, merchant economics and operational reliability. Wero will need to deliver consistent authorisation, confirmation, refund and reconciliation experiences across multiple banks and countries.

The announcement is nevertheless a meaningful step in Wero’s transition from a consumer transfer service into a wider merchant payment method. It reinforces the role of local account-to-account rails as part of the European ecommerce and in-store payment mix.