European Central Bank signs agreements with ECPC, nexo standards and the Berlin Group to implement open standards for digital euro payments

The European Central Bank has signed agreements with European Card Payment Cooperation (ECPC), nexo standards and the Berlin Group to reuse their existing open technical standards for processing digital euro online payments, with the aim of supporting interoperable acceptance while keeping standards accessible to all stakeholders. The standards cover contactless “tap-to-pay” via CPACE (ECPC), merchant-to-payment service provider and acquirer back-end connectivity via nexo standards specifications, and Berlin Group standards for alias-based payments (such as mobile numbers) plus functions including balance checks and reconciliation, including for digital euro transactions initiated in merchant apps. The ECB frames the approach as a way to minimise market adoption costs and encourage early coordination among payment service providers and standardisation bodies, particularly given Europe’s reliance on proprietary standards owned by international card schemes and global digital wallets. The ECB expects benefits to materialise ahead of any digital euro issuance, with broader scaling across the euro area linked to EU co-legislators’ adoption of the digital euro Regulation, which would provide certainty that the standards apply across the euro area given the digital euro’s legal tender status. Additional standards could be added later, subject to approval by the ECB’s Governing Council.