Major european banks get serious about building a Mastercard and Visa rival

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By Matthew Griffin Connected Society 4th June 2021

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Today it seems we have America, China, and then “the others” – increasingly Europe wants to change that narrative …

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The European Payments Initiative (EPI), a bank backed joint venture that aims to build a European rival to Mastercard and Visa, has put out a Request for Information (RFI) for ‘qualified technical partners’ to help it start building its central payments infrastructure.

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Backed by 31 major Eurozone banks and acquirers including Worldline and Singapore based Nets the EPI wants to “create a unified pan-European payment system” that doesn’t include the two giants and create what could become the world’s first viable rival service, including digital wallets and peer to peer payments, for the hundreds of millions of consumers and merchants across Europe.

Expected to enter the operational phase in 2022, the coalition established the EPI Interim Company in Brussels last July with the intention of setting out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap.

EPI is currently assessing how the necessary central infrastructure could be obtained, or built, and how best it should be operated, “to sustain all the necessary scheme functions and needs, as well as the solution needs of the technical entity, in relation to the payment products EPI intends to deploy”.

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“In particular, determining the financial aspects of the different options for the setup, and the run of the central infrastructure is critical for allowing proper decisions and choices,” says the EPI.

The RFI will be used to establish a longlist of potential participants who will then be invited to submit a formal Request for Proposals later this year.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.