European payments: The European Commission welcomes the initiative

The European Commission welcomes the agreement reached today by 16 major Eurozone banks from Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands towards the creation a unified payment solution for consumers and merchants across Europe.

The Commission, which will adopt later this year its own strategy for retail payments in Europe, fully supports the European payments initiative as a new, ambitious and European project. The Commission believes that EU citizens and businesses should benefit from fast, efficient and reliable payments solutions. The European payments initiative – EPI would be a critical and decisive step in that direction.