Bye, bye EC card: Sparkasse and Deutsche Bank want a new payment system
Created: 09/27/2022, 15:03
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Despite setbacks, the savings banks are committed to an independent European payment system.
(Archive image) © Gutschalk/Imago
The savings banks and Deutsche Bank want to launch a new payment system and make themselves independent of payment service providers from the USA.
But they are still at the beginning.
Frankfurt – Visa, Mastercard, Paypal: All major payment service providers come from the USA.
Banks around the world rely on them to be able to process international and digital payments in particular.
In Europe, Deutsche Bank and the savings banks now want to change that and, despite setbacks, are working on an independent European payment system.
Savings banks and Deutsche Bank want independent European payment methods
"By setting up an independent system, we want to strengthen the competitiveness of European banks in payment transactions," said Karl von Rohr, Vice President of Deutsche Bank, to the
Handelsblatt
.
To this end, several European banks have already joined forces in 2020 to form the European Payments Initiative (EPI).
In addition to Deutsche Bank and the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, the Spanish Santander Bank, the French Société Générale and the Dutch bank ING are also represented.
The project is supported by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission.
The project wants to set up a uniform European payment method and infrastructure for customers and retailers and thus compete directly with the established US providers Visa and Mastercard.
According to the ideas of the initiators, a so-called EPI card should also replace the European card system such as the Girocard.
However, the ambitious project was hit hard in January of this year when not only Commerzbank but also DZ-Bank – the central institute of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken – withdrew from the project, primarily for cost reasons.
Several Spanish financial institutions also left EPI.
EPI: "Great opportunity to decisively develop payment transactions in Europe"
According to the
Handelsblatt
, the remaining eleven banks and two payment service providers have been working on a slimmed-down version of EPI ever since.
The new plan: an EPI wallet, for example in the form of an app on a smartphone, through which consumers can use various payment options.
According to the business newspaper, the idea is well received by DZ-Bank – the cooperative banks are now considering getting back on board.
For EPI, that would be great news: the more banks that take part, the better the chance of success for the project.
In Germany, alongside the savings banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, the cooperative banks are among the largest financial institutions.
In any case, the savings banks and Deutsche Bank are still sticking to EPI: Joachim Schmalzl, board member at the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), describes EPI in the
Handelsblatt
as “a great opportunity to decisively develop payment transactions in Europe and to protect Europe’s sovereignty and its to strengthen international competitiveness".
That is why they are promoting “the broadest possible support”.
Von Rohr from Deutsche Bank stated that he was still committed to the project.
"We are ready to advance EPI 2.0 together with the remaining partners," von Rohr told the business magazine.
"Of course, whether it comes to that in the end is not just up to us." According to the
Handelsblatt
, an insider estimates the chances of the project succeeding at more than 50 percent.