Wero is a European account-to-account payment wallet launched in 2024 by the European Payments Initiative, a company owned by European banks and payment providers. It runs on SEPA instant credit transfers and lets users pay with a phone number or email address instead of an IBAN, starting with person-to-person payments and expanding to online and in-store purchases.
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst)SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is the European Payments Council scheme for euro credit transfers that complete within 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The payment is either credited and confirmed in time or rejected, and once credited it is irrevocable. Also called SEPA Instant or instant payments.
Digital euroThe digital euro is a proposed retail central bank digital currency: euro issued by the Eurosystem in electronic form for everyday payments online, in shops and offline, distributed by banks and payment providers. Its legal basis is a Commission proposal of June 2023. In October 2025 the Eurosystem moved to its next phase, aiming at possible first issuance in 2029.
Four-party card schemeA four-party card scheme is a payment card scheme in which the cardholder's bank (issuer) and the merchant's bank (acquirer) are different firms, connected through the scheme's network and rules, so each transaction involves cardholder, issuer, acquirer and merchant. In a three-party scheme the scheme itself issues the cards and acquires the merchants.
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is the area in which people, companies and public bodies make and receive euro credit transfers, instant payments and direct debits under the same rules, whether domestic or cross-border. It covers the EU, the European Economic Area and several other European countries, and rests on European Payments Council schemes and the SEPA Regulation.
IBAN (International Bank Account Number)The IBAN is the international standard identifier of a bank account, defined in ISO 13616. It has up to 34 characters: a two-letter country code, two check digits and the national account number (BBAN), for example 22 characters in Germany and 27 in France. In SEPA the IBAN alone is enough to make a payment.