Worldline selected for the Eurosystem’s digital euro pilot

Worldline [Euronext: WLN], the European leader in payment services, has been selected by the European Central Bank to participate in the Eurosystem’s digital euro pilot.

Worldline will participate as both an acquiring payment service provider and technical service provider, supporting banks and financial institutions throughout the digital euro value chain, from infrastructure connectivity and transaction processing to banking channel integration and merchant acceptance.

“Our selection for the digital euro pilot is an important recognition of Worldline’s role in shaping the future of payments in Europe. We provide the infrastructure, processing, integration capabilities needed to deploy the digital euro efficiently and at scale.” said Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, Worldline Group CEO “Our strength lies in connecting the digital euro with the payment solutions already used across Europe. By combining connectivity, processing, acceptance and orchestration capabilities, we enable our clients to accelerate readiness, reduce complexity and deliver a secure, intuitive and trusted payment experience.”

The pilot, which is due to be launched in the second half of 2027 and will run for 12 months, will evaluate digital euro payment journeys across a range of consumer and merchant use cases, including in-store NFC, e-commerce and m-commerce, helping to validate the operational readiness of the future ecosystem.

By leveraging Worldline’s shared, scalable platform capabilities, participating banks and merchants can accelerate implementation, reduce operational complexity and, avoid significant duplicate investments while benefiting from a consistent, interoperable approach across markets.

Worldline combines deep digital euro expertise with end-to-end payment capabilities and a proven experience operating European payment infrastructures, positioning the company as a referenced partner for ecosystem participants. A core differentiator is Worldline’s ability to orchestrate the digital euro alongside existing payment rails, including instant payments, account-to-account solutions, cards, wallets and domestic schemes.

Worldline is participating in the pilot through its Luxembourg-based payment institution – which holds our pan-European license – in close cooperation with the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL), as well as through PAYONE in Germany and Austria. Building on this pan-European footprint, long-standing relationships with the financial and merchant communities, and extensive experience delivering large-scale payment innovations, Worldline is uniquely positioned to support the deployment of the digital euro across all its operating markets, working in close coordination with national authorities throughout the pilot and into full-scale market deployment.

Know more: Digital Euro pilot website and FAQs on the digital euro pilot.