Europe takes control with Click to Pay

It wasn’t too long ago that the only way to pay online was by manually entering a 16-digit card number, expiration date, and security code for every purchase. If you were a returning customer, you could select a saved card, but still had to input security details to verify yourself. In recent years, faster and more convenient alternatives have become more prevalent in the form of digital wallets and instant payments. Instead of punching in your card details, you can authenticate your payments with a single click thanks to high-security credentials, such as biometrics passkeys, built into your device. 

Convenience is a huge driver of this trend, with 71 % of European consumers surveyed indicating easier and faster checkouts as a primary reason to use digital wallets at the checkout¹. But that convenience comes at a cost. The payment rails enabling these frictionless experiences are overwhelmingly owned by non-European tech giants – Apple, Google, and PayPal. In 2024, 55% of online wallet payments in Europe were made with global wallet providers, compared with just 34% for local wallet providers (where available)². This is a problem Europe is urgently addressing. 

“Europe’s payment ecosystem relies on infrastructure controlled by global brands, meaning transactions flow through systems that fuel the growth of these international players,” says Carsten Wengel, CEO G+D Netcetera. “What we are witnessing are decisive initiatives and actions by European institutions to reclaim control and establish EU payment sovereignty, reducing dependence on global brands. These homegrown alternatives deliver the same seamless experience consumers expect, but on European terms, with European values embedded in the architecture.”

For European banks, winning at the checkout has become a question of sovereignty and control.

Why payment sovereignty matters

At times of rising geopolitical tensions, discourse around sovereignty can quickly become entangled with nationalism and isolationism. While these concerns shouldn’t be dismissed entirely, they’re not the primary motivation for European payment platforms. The reality is more pragmatic: controlling domestic payment infrastructure is a matter of security. Payment systems, like energy grids and connectivity networks, are essential pillars of modern society. If these systems fail or are breached, it can have damaging consequences. Reducing dependence on foreign payment rails is one way to build resilience against such risks.

Setting aside the geopolitical concerns, another core motivation for European banks is protecting payment data. Currently, transaction data from European consumers is processed outside the reach of European jurisdiction and standards, and monetized by entities whose primary accountability is to shareholders, not European consumers or regulators. This raises some fundamental questions about data privacy and commercial exploitation.

There are also economic factors at play. Every transaction fee that flows to foreign payment processors drains value from the European economy that could otherwise fuel local innovation. Merchants are also left exposed to unavoidable fee increases in the absence of viable alternatives closer to home. Meanwhile, the more consumers opt for third-party digital wallets at the checkout – favoring the speed and convenience they offer – the more banks risk losing brand visibility with their customers. 

The European Union’s recent Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) is a step in the right direction to combat this trend, showing a clear commitment to digital payment sovereignty on the Continent by making it compulsory for banks to offer real-time, account-to-account transfers. European banks need only look at the successful implementations in countries such as India and Brazil to see why this is worth the investment.

But instant payments are not the only way to deliver a fast checkout experience. European players are increasingly rolling out another payment rail that provides all the convenience of fast checkout without sacrificing data privacy or economic independence: Click to Pay.

The best of both worlds

Click to Pay is the EMVCo standard for single-click checkouts. It is the online equivalent of tap-to-pay at an in-store terminal, using a tokenized profile of your payment card to quickly authenticate a transaction. 

The user experience is familiar and simple: consumers add items to their online basket, select Click to Pay at checkout, and their purchase is immediately authenticated and completed in a single click. It is the kind of speed and convenience consumers have grown accustomed to in the digital world, with the bonus that their data is handled locally, according to the highest European privacy standards.

Merchants benefit naturally from this shift. Roughly 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before completion³, often due to clunky checkout experiences. A more seamless checkout experience directly addresses this friction, leading to higher conversion rates and reduced cart abandonment. The security benefits are equally compelling: because Click to Pay is linked to a tokenized profile on a consumer’s device, the risk of fraud and chargeback costs is significantly reduced.

Banks and payment networks also benefit substantially. By offering customers a robust alternative to international wallets, they remain front and center of the payment experience, deepening direct customer relationships rather than ceding them to foreign platforms. This ensures economic value stays within the European ecosystem – a win for financial institutions and the Continent alike.

“European banks no longer need to choose between user experience and payment sovereignty,” says Carsten Wengel, CEO G+D Netcetera. “They can now deliver both, built on European values of privacy, security, and control.”

Two major implementations are already putting this into action across different European markets.

Payment sovereignty in practice

France: STET and Cartes Bancaires 

France is leading the way with its partnership between STET – Europe’s largest retail payment system by volume – G+D, and Cartes Bancaires, the French domestic card network. Scheduled for rollout in 2026, the initiative deploys an EMVCo-standard Click to Pay solution specifically adapted to France’s unique co-badging environment, supporting both domestic and international cards.

Building on trusted local infrastructure, the partnership will create a domestic alternative to international wallets that serves French merchants, consumers, and regulators while keeping payment data and economic value within French jurisdiction. “The collaboration with a leading European player is a tremendous opportunity for STET to bring innovation and enhance sovereignty in the digital payment services to the benefit of the French domestic card network, Cartes Bancaires, and the French banking community,” said Régis Folbaum, CEO of STET.

Central & Eastern Europe: Global Payments Europe

Global Payments Europe (GPE) demonstrates a different proof point for Click to Pay through its partnership with G+D Netcetera. Faced with persistent merchant challenges – abandoned carts from complicated checkouts, data security concerns, and clunky user experiences undermining conversion – GPE worked with G+D Netcetera to deploy tokenization and Click to Pay as a SaaS solution via its GP webpay gateway. The rollout started in the Czech Republic and now serves thousands of merchants across the region. 

Unlike the French implementation, which focuses on adapting to a specific domestic network environment, the GPE deployment demonstrates Click to Pay’s cross-border scalability. The solution works seamlessly across multiple markets within a unified European regulatory framework, providing a model for regional rollouts that can meet growing e-commerce demand without requiring separate country-by-country implementations. 

At this stage, the question is less about technical capability and more about will. The examples of France and Central Europe demonstrate that homegrown payment infrastructure can deliver superior user experience, enhanced security, and economic resilience while reducing dependency on non-European platforms and BigTech wallets. 

As more European banks embrace homegrown solutions such as Click to Pay moving forward, Europe isn’t just catching up to global payment trends, it’s positioned to lead the next wave of digital payments – on its own terms.

Published: 17/02/2026