Brussels – UniCredit, Monte dei Paschi, Banca Sella, Isybank, Numia, Nexi, and Poste Italiane are also among the 36 payment service providers (PSPs) joining the digital euro pilot project. The European Central Bank announced the list of selected actors to test the digital euro’s technical functionality and operational processes and to refine the user experience. Of the selected entities, seven are Italian. The pilot aims to support the ongoing preparatory work for the potential issuance of a digital euro, and “is due to start during the second half of 2027 for a period of 12 months,” the ECB said.
Over 50 expressions of interest in the project were received in Frankfurt, with ECB experts and staff having to sift through the many applications. “The strong market interest in the pilot shows the private sector’s readiness to engage actively and quickly advance with the digital euro project to strengthen the European payments landscape,”, said Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB Executive Board and chair of the High-Level Task Force on the digital euro.
The 36 payment service providers – comprising banks and non-bank service providers – are based in 16 euro area countries (Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain). According to the ECB, the 36 selected participants, including banks and non-bank service providers, “span a broad range of business models and sizes and offer broad geographical coverage, ensuring a diverse and representative testing and learning environment for the digital euro.”
The pilot will involve staff from the ECB and the 19 participating national central banks of the euro area (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain), as well as online merchants and merchants offering routine services at their premises (e.g. cafés and restaurants). Staff at participating central banks will have the opportunity to make beta digital euro payments from person to person (both online and offline) and from person to business (both at the physical point of sale, including Software Point of Sale, and via e-commerce, including mobile payments). The Bank of Italy clarified that “the activities will involve a limited number of users and merchants and will enable the testing of various payment methods, both online and offline, as well as integration processes with existing payment services.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
