'Transition from iDEAL to Wero payment system could last until early 2026'

The transition from iDEAL to the Wero payment system will 'probably' last until early 2026. This is what Currence CEO Daniel van Delft told De Stentor. Initially, the target was 2025. According to the CEO, the deadline for the transition can still change.

Van Delft repeats to De Stentor that Wero will definitely come to the Netherlands. “As soon as the Dutch ecosystem is ready to switch, Wero will come to our country,” it said. “The disappearance of iDEAL is a shame,” says the man. “But there will be a better system to serve the consumer.”

The European Payments Initiative, or EPI for short, acquired iDEAL in October 2023 from Currence: a Dutch company founded in 2005 by eight Dutch banks including ING, ABN AMRO and Rabobank. These banks are also members of EPI. With the acquisition, the European Payments Initiative wants to develop a 'comprehensive' European payment platform, which will eventually also function as a digital identity. That platform should be called Wero.

The payment system will first be released in Belgium, France and Germany and then also in the Netherlands. EPI also acquired Payconiq at the end of 2023. This was a Luxembourg company that developed the technology behind iDEAL and the Belgian Bancontact.

Payment system iDEAL was introduced in 2005. Research by the Dutch Payments Association showed that 70 percent of online purchases in the Netherlands are paid for via iDEAL. In 2022, more than a billion payments were made via the service. From April, consumers can create iDEAL profiles to use at online stores.

iDeal Payconiq Wero EPI