The inaugural transaction, worth 10 euros, was sent from a German account to a French account using SCT Inst and the EPI’s ’wero’ digital wallet. The bank-backed consortium intends to extend the use of wero to the first pilot users within its member banks in Belgium, France, and Germany in the new year. The completion of the first transaction comes after the EPI closed on its acqusition of Dutch payment scheme iDeal and Payconiq, the mobile payments app supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks. Member banks backing the scheme include ABN Amro, Belfius, BFCM, BNP Paribas, BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, DSGV, DZ Bank ING, KBC, La Banque Postale, Rabobank, Société Générale, with added support from Nexi and Worldline.Under the commercial roadmap, wero will be integrated into the applications of EPI’s member banks, in addition to being available as a standalone mobile app on both Android and iOS platforms. Joachim Schmalzl, managing director, DSGV and chair of EPI Board of Directors, states: “The successful completion of the first account-to-account-transaction with wero is a significant technological milestone for European independence in payment. With this pioneering achievement, we demonstrate our commitment to transforming the payment landscape in Europe by providing a secure, efficient, and fully integrated payment solution for banks, customers and merchants.”