The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed effort to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, is appealing for outside funding to get the project off the ground.
Expected to enter the operational phase in 2022, the coalition established the EPI Interim Company in Brussels in July last year, with the intention of setting out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap.
Speaking at an event hosted by the European Payments Institutions Federation, EPI chief executive Martina Weimart said “Public funding would be nice…Let’s not hide it – it’s going to be a massive investment. It’s expensive.”
Weimart told Reuters that retailers are not willing to fund the new initiative, and that banks and other EPI shareholders “can carry only so much”.
