Moving beyond person-to-person payments, customers in Germany can now also choose Wero as a payment option when shopping online, paying straight from their current account.
Wero is an initiative of the European Payments Initiative, a consortium of leading European banks and payment service providers. Its aim is to build an independent European payment infrastructure.
Transactions usually take place within 10 seconds and follow European data protection and regulatory standards.
Phased approach
ING is introducing Wero in phases across three retail banking markets: Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. ING in Belgium, the first to go live with Wero in 2024, introduced its e-commerce solution earlier this year. Wero in the Netherlands will start in the fourth quarter of this year.
In Germany, Wero has been available in the ING app since August 2025, enabling real‑time account‑to‑account transfers. By adding online payments, Wero now becomes part of customers’ everyday digital payment choices, without the need for intermediary wallets or international payment service providers.
“Wero is a central part of our current account, because it gives our customers freedom of choice in daily payment transactions,” said Germany’s Burcu Civelek Yüce, head of Private Individuals.
“Around 600,000 of our customers have already activated Wero for person‑to‑person payments. That’s about 15 percent of our current account holders, one of the highest activation rates in the German market. Being able to pay online with Wero should significantly increase acceptance,” she said.
Easier onboarding
To support this next phase, ING in Germany has also simplified the onboarding process. The product terms and conditions for Wero are now integrated into the general terms and conditions for current accounts. This means customers automatically give consent to use Wero when opening an account, making activation faster and easier.
The next step in Germany will be to introduce Wero at the point of sale, allowing customers to use it in local shops as well.