BoursoBank, France’s largest online bank with more than 8 million customers, will add the Wero wallet by the end of the year, handing the European Payments Initiative (EPI) another win. Wero has already passed 55 million users in Europe. Its French e-commerce pilot is still running, with a commercial launch planned for the fall. For account-to-account (A2A) payments, 2026 is shaping up as the year the focus shifts from person-to-person (P2P) transfers to merchant acceptance.
BoursoBank fills the last big gap in France
A subsidiary of Société Générale, BoursoBank was one of the last major French retail banks not yet offering Wero. Its arrival, scheduled for the end of 2026, adds to coverage that is already broad thanks to the migration from Paylib, the French mobile payment service Wero replaced. BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, BPCE, Crédit Mutuel, La Banque Postale and Société Générale already offer Wero to their customers. For an A2A wallet, a dense base of enrolled users is the precondition for merchant acceptance: a merchant only turns on a payment method once its customers already have it.
Germany went first in e-commerce, and France follows in the fall
| Country | E-commerce launch | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | November 2025 | First merchants: Air Europa, Decathlon, Eventim, Veepee |
| Belgium | March 2026 | Gradual rollout, building on the Payconiq legacy |
| France | Pilot underway, full launch in fall 2026 | Acquiring led by BNP Paribas and partner PSPs, among others |
| Luxembourg / Netherlands | Mid-2026 | Gradual migration from iDEAL to Wero in the Netherlands |
| EPI countries (in store) | 2027 | NFC and QR code payments at the point of sale |
Cost is the main selling point for merchants. Because Wero runs on SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), it bypasses the card networks and carries no interchange. EPI and its partner PSPs say acceptance costs 2 to 2.5 times less than a card transaction, with capped fees. Funds reach the merchant’s account immediately, which eases working capital needs and simplifies reconciliation.
Four points to check before turning on Wero
- Irrevocability: an SCT Inst payment can’t be disputed like a card transaction. Wero’s process for handling disputes and refunds (buyer protection) needs to be spelled out in the contract with the PSP.
- Customer reach: strong in France, Germany and Belgium, close to zero elsewhere for now. Wero is a tool for domestic and cross-border payments within EPI countries, not a global substitute for cards.
- Conversion flow: test the app-to-app redirect and the phone-number alias on mobile, where most cart abandonment happens.
- Reconciliation: credits arrive one by one in real time. Reconciliation processes built around next-day (D+1) card batches need to be adapted.
Against Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, Wero is selling European sovereignty and lower costs. The fight now is over acceptance: getting merchants to add one more button to the checkout page, then getting consumers to choose it over habits built up over 20 years. German e-commerce usage figures over the next few quarters will be the first real test.