iDEAL 2.0 basic new European payment method

iDEAL is the Dutch online payment method that consumers use to make millions of online purchases every day. iDEAL is owned by Currence, of which ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank are shareholders. The technology of the new iDEAL 2.0 will be used as the basis of the new European payment method.

iDeal 2.0 phased
EPI stands for European Payment Initiative and is a European Central Bank-backed payments integration initiative. It was started partly at the initiative of the European Commission to make Europe less dependent on American companies such as MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, Google and Apple. Moreover, earlier attempts to set up its own European payment platform failed to materialise. EPI will use the technology of iDEAL 2.0 as the basis for a broad innovative payment platform for the whole of Europe. This acquisition still has to be formally approved by the financial authorities, but this will probably not be long in coming. The plan is to start a pilot for a digital wallet in France and Germany this year, with which private individuals can pay each other directly. The rollout to more countries will follow later and the payment platform will also be expanded with online and mobile payments to companies and, for example, deferred payment, digital identification, loyalty programs and the digital euro can also be added. The banks that participate in EPI already together serve about 60% of current account holders in Europe and this percentage is expected to rise further quickly.
The services from EPI will be offered in the Netherlands via the apps of the aforementioned banks and via internet banking. The introduction of EPI will take place in several phases. Users in the Netherlands will first receive an upgrade to iDEAL 2.0. This will enable them to provide services such as, for example, during the course of this year fast checkout to use. The upgrade for the entire Dutch market must be completed by mid-2024. It is expected that iDEAL will then gradually switch to EPI.

iDeal more functions
In the coming years, the name iDEAL will continue to be used in the Netherlands and more and more EPI functions may become available step by step. From this summer, buying and paying with iDEAL will be even easier. This way you don’t have to choose your bank and your account every time. Even better if you regularly buy something with your smartphone is that you can save data, which are often requested when ordering, in your iDEAL profile. This has the advantage that you can then go to any website with a button order quickly share the requested data in a flash. However, you must always authorize the payment in your bank’s app or website.