The European Union's largest banks have developed Wero, a new payment system meant to challenge Visa and Mastercard.

Backed by 16 major banks including BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, Wero aims to let European customers settle payments directly through their bank accounts, bypassing US-based card networks.

The initiative underscores Europe's desire to lessen reliance on US financial infrastructure, heightened by Visa and Mastercard's suspension of Russian operations following the 2022 Ukraine invasion.

EPI leads the Wero project, fronted by CEO Martina Weimert, and has already secured €500 million and partnerships with services like iDeal.

The service will start with account-to-account payments, expanding to e-commerce and in-store payments next year.