Computop, the leading German payment service provider, known for connecting large retail companies to international payment methods, is entering a new business area with payment processing for acquirers. This move will also promote the market launch of the new European Wero Wallet.

EPI (European Payment Initiative), the operator of Wero, relies on acquiring banks for the acceptance of Wero payments. These banks carry out the prescribed checks of the merchants, transmit transactions to Wero and receive the customer payment on behalf of the merchant. This process is known as acquiring processing, and it is already used for credit card payments. Banks that want to accept Wero payments for their merchants must therefore provide new interfaces and processes.

MODULAR OFFERING FOR ACQUIRER PROCESSING

With over 25 years of experience in payment processing, Computop has now positioned itself to play a key role supporting the first banks in providing services for Wero payment acceptance. The sub-steps offered by Computop include onboarding with reporting to EPI, as well as generation and exchange of tokens, handling of authorisation and capture, along with detailed reporting. A modular approach has been chosen, whereby acquirers can also carry out individual process steps themselves. Clearing is thus the remaining core task for regulated institutions.

Computop will develop these services for two customers initially, a major French bank and a German acquirer. The first payments should be executed in the second quarter of 2025. This corresponds to EPI's schedule for the market launch of Wero in e-commerce.

Merchants can already connect to Wero via the Computop Paygate and integrate the payment method into their online shop once the acquirer connection is available.

Ralf Gladis, CEO Computop, said: ‘Computop is not only staying true to its policy of providing a wide range of acquirers for merchants. By supporting Wero-processing for acquirers, we are going even further and helping merchant banks to open up as quickly as possible to merchants and PSPs for the new European payment method.’