* Merchants seeking European payment alternatives, EPI

CEO says

* EPI platform Wero small but growing, plans expansion to

Luxembourg and Netherlands

* Concerns Trump administration could curb US payment

access boosting interest-CEO

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Elizabeth Howcroft

PARIS, March 26 (Reuters) - Fears that President Donald

Trump's administration could limit Europe's access to U.S.

payments infrastructure are boosting regional adoption of a

competing European payment platform, the CEO of the European

Payments Initiative (EPI) told Reuters.

The Brussels-based company has developed Wero to serve as an

alternative to Mastercard ( MA ), Visa and Apple Pay

, which now dominate in-store payments in Europe.

Founded in 2020 by a group of 16 major European banks,

including BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank,

and payments providers, it has since grown to 45 members, with

fintechs Mollie, Worldpay, and N26 among the companies to have

joined in recent months.

EUROPEANS FEAR GETTING CUT OFF FROM US PAYMENTS SYSTEM

EPI's CEO Martina Weimert said that there was a sense of urgency

about reducing European dependence on U.S. firms. Asked in an

interview if merchants were preparing for the possibility that

the Trump administration could cut Europe off from its financial

systems, she said "absolutely" and said two big merchants had

cited international resilience as a reason for using Wero.

"It's not like this is out of the blue, totally vague scenario,"

Weimert said. Those things can happen very quickly, she said.

Trump's "America First" policies, which upend the global

order and are fraying longtime transatlantic ties, have spurred

European Union efforts to reduce its reliance on U.S. companies

in strategic industries, from payments to technology.

Wero, launched in 2024, faces an uphill battle. It is so far

used for peer-to-peer transfers, and, more recently, e-commerce

payments, but international card schemes including Visa and

Mastercard ( MA ) account for two-thirds of euro area card

transactions, according to the European Central Bank.

National payment schemes backed by banks in Spain and Italy

also raise concerns of fragmentation, despite their pledges to

collaborate on a pan-European platform.

DIGITAL EURO SCEPTICISM

Wero is now available to customers in Belgium, France and

Germany and its number of users has risen to 52.5 million from

43.5 million in September, still a fraction of Europe's payments

industry. EPI plans to expand to Luxembourg and the Netherlands

in the next year.

Weimert said she saw the digital euro, which the ECB plans to

issue in 2029, not as competition but as something that could be

integrated into Wero's wallet, and was worried if it would

arrive soon enough.

"I don't have a problem with the digital euro. What I find quite

strange is that in the current context, where we clearly every

day would say, 'Oh, we have a problem with European

sovereignty,' to say, 'Oh, let's wait another five years before

the digital euro is there and then hope that this will work.'"