Major EU banks will soon launch their own payment system as an alternative to Visa or Mastercard

Twenty big European banks are getting ready to create a payment standard they hope will rival American giants like Visa or MasterCard. The initiative, known as the Pan European Payment System Initiative (PEPSI) aims to handle all forms of cashless transactions.

According to the French business daily Les Échos, the launch will be announced this week, with 2 July being the most likely date.

The announcement, expected for several months, should specify the modus operandi of the project, including the creation of a common structure. A “scheme manager ” will be the central governing body overseeing the building of the infrastructure necessary for the success of the new European interbank.

The latter aims to eventually replace national schemes, such as the Cartes Bancaires (CB) group in France, while relying on the already existing players.

The European payment system TIPS (Target Instant Payment Settlement), launched in 2018 by the ECB, will be at the heart of new scheme.

PEPSI has the backing of both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission.

The financial institutions sponsoring the project include all the major French banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Germany, Santander in Spain or Banca Intesa Sanpaolo in Italy.

PEPSI will create a new European standard to process card payments, but also execute transfers, instant or mobile payments, without going through the American acceptance networks Visa or MasterCard.

The project aims to fully integrate the new usage patterns of European consumers in terms of payments. It is therefore structured around three parts:

. Card or transfer transaction in instant payment mod;

. the Request-to-pay service which allows the beneficiary to send a request for payment to the debtor, and which has just been launched;

. and finally the electronic wallet which combines both the card and the Request-to-pay on a mobile.

The project, which has big ambitions to capture 60 percent of the electronic payments market in Europe and which has already been presented to European governments, is expected to cost several billion euros.