At least 20 European banks are jointly working on a pan-European payment system that is to replace the American systems currently in use, including Visa and MasterCard.

RBC reports the news based on the announcement of AFP (Agence France-Presse) news agency, which cites sources in the industry.

The project is called PEPSI (Pan-European Payment System Initiative). According to the sources, it will process all types of dematerialized payments.

The AFP source in France’s banking sector has told that the idea came up back in 2017. According to them, the European Central Bank became concerned with sovereignty of payments in Europe at that time. “PEPSI was initially a political, not technical project,” the source said.

Deputy Head of Banking Affairs Unit at the Treasury of French Ministry of Economy Jérome Reboul said in his turn that the views on the future of online and card payments have changed drastically in Europe over the last two years.

AFP reports that Global Head of Cards and Retail Payments at BNP Paribas (French bank, one of the largest in Europe - Banks.am) Carlo Bovero mentioned the project during the conference at Revue Banque on November 5.

The news agency adds that no financial institution has confirmed its part in creation of the alleged payment system yet. However, AFP’s sources claim that the project includes the majority of French banks, as well as Deutsche Bank.

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