Worldline [Euronext: WLN], a European leader in payment services, has enabled the first Wero online payment transaction in Belgium. This breakthrough comes as Belgium becomes the second European market, after Germany, to support Wero for eCommerce payments following its official launch in the country.
The transaction was completed for the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders (Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen), making the humanitarian organisation the first to accept the pan-European digital wallet at checkout in Belgium.
What Is Wero and Why It Matters
Wero is a pan-European, sovereign digital wallet and instant payment method developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI). Designed as a European alternative to global payment giants, Wero uses instant account-to-account (A2A) payments to deliver fast, direct, and secure transactions (often in under 10 seconds) without intermediaries.
Wero has already been live for peer-to-peer payments in Belgium, France, and Germany and now supports online merchant payments as an e-commerce solution as well. As of this launch, Wero has more than 50 million registered users across Europe, highlighting the rapid consumer adoption of this new payment ecosystem.
“The growing adoption of Wero is proof that more and more Europeans are choosing to pay locally with our mobile solution, which is instant, secure and tailored to their needs. We are proud to see our vision, and those of our partners, become even more real thanks to the upcoming deployments on e-commerce. The enthusiasm of Europeans, consumers and merchants, demonstrates the need for a sovereign European alternative, and we thank them for supporting this ambition with us. Together, we can take back control, while offering everyone the most advanced features in the future,” said Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI
The expansion of Wero represents a key milestone in Europe’s effort to build a unified, sovereign payments system that offers consumers and merchants an interoperable and efficient alternative to credit cards and major tech wallets.
Beyond online checkout, Wero’s roadmap includes extending into point-of-sale payments, value-added services such as merchant loyalty program integration, recurring billing, and subscription management throughout 2026 and beyond.
First Belgian Wero eCommerce Transaction
Joachim Goyvaerts, CEO of Worldline Belgium, became the first person to complete a Wero e-commerce transaction in Belgium by donating online to the Flemish Red Cross via Worldline’s platform.
“Our humanitarian work in Flanders, in Belgium and across the world is only possible thanks to the people who support us. Our goal is to help people as fast and proficient as possible, fast and reliable systems are therefore important to us.”
Vincent Verbeecke, spokesperson for the Belgian Red Cross-Flanders (Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen)
More Belgian merchants have already signaled their intention to offer Wero at checkout, including major brands such as Ahold Delhaize, Bpost, LIDL, Pairi Daiza, and Parfum Dreams. These household names and others are becoming part of the first wave of Wero-enabled online retailers.
“Our priority is to make new payment methods easy to activate and reliable at scale. With Wero for e-commerce, Worldline strengthens its digital payments proposition and enables merchants to offer European shoppers a seamless checkout experience, without additional set-up or operational effort. Merchants can deploy Wero easily while keeping day-to-day operations running as usual, with immediate confirmation of successful payments and simplified reconciliation. We’re proud to have enabled the first Belgian Wero online payment for the Red Cross.”
Joachim Goyvaerts, CEO of Worldline Belgium
Belgium’s E-Commerce Landscape and Wero Adoption
According to the EPI Payments Barometer 2025 survey, conducted among 1,000 Belgian consumers aged 16–64, 65% of Belgians expressed that they want to use Wero as a payment method, and 20% said they are certain they will use it for purchases online. Additionally, 42% of respondents already primarily use digital payment methods for online shopping, underlining strong consumer readiness for new European payment solutions.
Deployment of Wero in Belgium is supported by banks including ING, KBC, and BNP Paribas Fortis, with others such as Belfius, Argenta, Bank Van Breda, Beobank, Bunq, Crelan, Keytrade Bank, Nagelmackers, Revolut, and vdk bank scheduled to enable both peer-to-peer and eCommerce payments later in 2026.
A Strategic Moment for European Payments
The expansion of Wero into Belgian online commerce reflects broader progress in building a self-sustaining European payments ecosystem. The initiative is already supported by 16 European banks and payment service providers, with a growing network of partners across banking and merchant acquiring partners.
Throughout 2025 and early 2026, the system expanded rapidly:
- the Netherlands’ dominant online payment system iDEAL announced it was set to begin its migration to the pan-European digital wallet Wero in 2026,
- Airwallex has become a Principal Member of the EPI Company (European Payments Initiative), bringing merchants on its platform access to Wero,
- Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary Postbank have rolled out the full functionality of the Wero digital payments platform,
- Wero created integration with Banking Circle, a licensed European bank and payment infrastructure provider.
By enabling Wero for e-commerce, merchants gain simplified onboarding, cross-border checkout options, and reduced chargeback risk, while consumers enjoy a secure and frictionless payment experience across participating markets.
As adoption continues to grow and integrations expand, Wero has the potential to reshape digital and in-store payments across Europe, advancing European digital and payment sovereignty and giving consumers and merchants a home-grown choice in the global payment landscape.
