What s the European Payments Initiative and will it really work?
raconteur.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from raconteur.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Iran, Facebook, and Alipay: Why Europe is building another payments network even though it doesn t need one
msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SHARE
European banks and credit card processors are working to establish a new pan-European payment network to challenge the dominance of the US payments companies Mastercard and Visa and head off the threat from technology giants such as PayPal, Google and Apple.
The Brussels-based project, called the European Payments Initiative, began in July and is expected to go to market in the EU next year.
Thus far, it has received funding of more than $36 million from sponsors. Its backers include 31 European banks and credit institutions such as Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, ING, Societe Generale, Santander and Sabadell. It also has the backing of the European Commission as well as various financial regulators in the bloc.