At an event in Lisbon, SIBS director Teresa Mesquita, Bancomat director Massimo Itta, and EPI director Alfred Baroulier demonstrated the interoperability of the payment solutions they offer for purchases in physical stores across different European countries. For now, this was just a demonstration, and the goal is to make this possible in 2027.

International protocol

At the beginning of the year, SIBS/MB Way (Portugal), Bancomat (Italy), Vipps MobilePay (Nordic countries), and EPI (European Payments Initiative, which owns Wero) signed a protocol to accelerate the use at the European level of payment platforms that are currently mostly local (as is the case with MB Way in Portugal) and which, in total, represent 130 million users.

Since mid-2025, MB Way users have been able to send and receive money from customers in Spain and Italy using a mobile phone number (provided that customers in these countries have the Bizum or Bancomat payment solutions).

In response to questions from journalists, Teresa Mesquita said that the goal is that, by the end of the year, transfers can be made between customers in 13 European countries (Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden).

Regarding payment in stores across various European countries using MB Way (QR Code or NFC), she replied that the goal is to make this available in 2027.

If the forecast is met, next year, customers with payment solutions from companies that are part of the protocol (SIBS/MB Way, Bancomat, Vipps MobilePay and EPI) will be able to make purchases in physical or online stores in 13 countries.

The operators' goal is for customers to be able to use the payment solution they are accustomed to using in their country of residence in other European countries.

Thus, a customer with MB Way can use it to make payments to merchants in Spain or Belgium, provided the merchant is associated with a local system that has an agreement with SIBS.

When questioned, SIBS did not disclose the investment amounts in these interoperability projects between payment companies, nor the business objectives.