Five European payment networks form ENP joint entity to link 130 million users by 2027

Five of Europe's leading domestic payment networks have taken a significant structural step toward continent-wide interoperability, announcing the formation of a jointly owned entity designed to connect their respective systems under a common technical framework.

From MoU to Joint Entity

The process began on 2 February 2026, when Bancomat, Bizum, EPI Company/Wero, SIBS-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing to enable seamless cross-border payments across Europe by 2027. The primary sources note that Bancomat, Bizum, SIBS-MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay are members of the EuroPA Alliance; EPI Company/Wero is the fifth partner in the collaboration.

Eight months later, on 30 September 2026, the five parties announced the next concrete step: the creation of a new joint entity formally named the European Network for Payments (ENP). The founding partners will hold equal stakes in the ENP — a governance structure that, in editorial terms, reflects a deliberate effort to prevent any single national champion from exerting dominant influence over shared infrastructure.

The initiative spans 13 European countries at launch, with the five participating networks reporting a combined user base of approximately 130 million people — a scale that positions the ENP as a meaningful contender in the European payments landscape.

What the ENP Will Do

According to the verified announcements, the ENP will connect existing European payment solutions through a common technical and operational layer built on European standards, with instant account-to-account payments as a core capability. Critically, each participating solution will retain its own brand and user experience — meaning end-users of Bizum, Vipps MobilePay or MB WAY, for example, are not expected to migrate to a new application or interface.

The rollout is structured in phases:

• Phase one: Cross-border person-to-person (P2P) payments
• Subsequent phases: Online payments, then in-store payments

The phased approach reflects both the technical complexity of aligning distinct domestic infrastructures and the commercial logic of proving interoperability at lower risk before scaling to merchant-facing use cases.

Who Is Involved

• Bancomat — member of the EuroPA Alliance
• Bizum — member of the EuroPA Alliance
• EPI Company/Wero — fifth partner in the collaboration
• SIBS-MB WAY — member of the EuroPA Alliance
• Vipps MobilePay — member of the EuroPA Alliance

All five will be equal shareholders of the ENP entity. Kim Fuglsang Kristoffersen, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Vipps MobilePay, is cited by Vipps MobilePay's own newsroom in connection with the ENP announcement.

Challenges Ahead

Analysts would note that connecting five distinct domestic schemes is a non-trivial engineering and regulatory undertaking. The 13-country footprint encompasses at least two currency zones — the eurozone and, given Vipps MobilePay's Norwegian operations, the Norwegian krone — though the complete list of countries has not been confirmed in the verified sources reviewed here, and the full currency picture should be treated as subject to revision once that list is published.

Regulatory alignment across multiple national frameworks, user authentication standards and fraud-liability rules will each require resolution before cross-border payments can operate smoothly at scale. The ENP's equal-shareholder structure may also require careful governance design to manage decision-making across five organisations with differing priorities and regulatory environments.

Open Architecture

The verified announcements indicate that the ENP framework is not intended to be a closed club. The partnership may accommodate other established European payment solutions over time, subject to the partners' agreement and applicable technical requirements — a clause that leaves room for the network to expand its geographic and user-base reach beyond the initial 13-country perimeter.

Whether the 2027 target for cross-border payment functionality proves achievable will depend in large part on how quickly the five founding partners can align on the common technical and operational layer — and on whether regulators across the relevant jurisdictions treat the structure as consistent with existing payments and competition rules.