The National Payments Committee, chaired by the Bank of France, published an update on strengthening the resilience and continuity of payment services following temporary unavailability of payment means across mainland France, overseas territories and several neighbouring countries in 2024 and 2025. The committee places point-of-sale payments at the centre of its work under the national 2025–2030 strategy and is coordinating a more integrated approach across payment instruments. Key measures include cash contingency planning, including the holding of reserve stocks by the Bank of France and potential exceptional cash recycling, and extending crisis-preparedness across all payment methods in cooperation with users, merchants and payment service providers. The update also references market participation in the Hydros 25 crisis exercise, coordinated by the Paris Police Prefecture, which simulated a major Seine flood from 13 to 17 October. For longer-term continuity, the committee highlights diversification via instant credit transfer-based solutions and the rollout of Wero to customers of all French banks, with person-to-person already available, online payments expected in 2026 and point-of-sale payments expected in 2027, alongside offers such as in-store cash withdrawals by card or mobile. The committee also points to the digital euro as a potential additional resilience tool for retail payments, notably through offline functionality and legal tender status, and plans to contribute to the opportunity analysis ahead of a European Parliament decision expected in May 2026. Separately, it reports that the payee verification service has been fully operational in France since 9 October, with an interbank verification and routing infrastructure used by more than 150 French and foreign banks processing over 250 million checks with around a 98% response rate and roughly 80% perfect or close matches.
Bank of France 2025-11-27
Bank of France chaired National Payments Committee outlines payment resilience priorities and reports 250 million beneficiary verification checks
The National Payments Committee, chaired by the Bank of France, updated on efforts to enhance payment service resilience following disruptions in 2024 and 2025. Initiatives include cash contingency planning, crisis-preparedness across payment methods, and the rollout of instant credit transfer-based solutions like Wero. The committee highlights the digital euro's potential for retail payment resilience and reports the full operation of a payee verification service in France.