this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Europe

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[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 38 points 2 days ago (8 children)

We’ve had Twint for over a decade in Switzerland and it’s adopted everywhere here, I have no idea why every country is cooking their own new system right now.

Pick one that works already and roll it out on the whole continent, it’s not that hard.

[–] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 2 days ago (2 children)

That's Wero. It's basically iDEAL in a new jacket.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 days ago

Apparently owned by PEPSI 🤭

[–] broom@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And iDEAL is really good. Everyone in the Netherlands uses it.

[–] Akasazh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

We've had it for twenty years yet no one adapted it

[–] NorskSud@lemmy.pt 10 points 2 days ago

Other countries also have their own systems since long.. MBway in Portugal is also more than a decade old.

[–] akmur@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I think every country has its own, Italy has the Bancomat network for example - but you can't pay online with it. Then we have Satispay, which works like in China, with QR codes. Satispay is quite huge in Italy.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 5 points 2 days ago

In NZ we've had electronic card payments outside of the credit card system for about 40-something years.

It just took a long time to catch up to online payments, but it's slowly getting there.

[–] Pamasich@kbin.earth 1 points 1 day ago

Pick one that works already and roll it out on the whole continent, it’s not that hard.

Twint is working on that, just in a more federation-style way than "pick one".

The European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) aims for interoperability between its various members across Europe. So you can use your country's app with the systems in other countries.

Looking at the members list, there's Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Romania, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Albania currently on the list.

[–] dello_iv@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Isn't Twint still going through Visa for the in-store purchase? I remember reading it somewhere, but can't find the source for it unfortunately, but in general whenever it is an option I prefer that over other means of payment, the only strange thing is having a separate twint app for each bank lol

[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not sure if it's a bank specific, but on my UBS account TWINT is linked to the VISA credit card account (and I don't see any option to change that). So every transaction goes through VISA.

[–] dello_iv@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Mmmm on my UBS account I have it connected directly to the account itself, you can probably change that via More --> Settings --> Manage payment methods

[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks! I'll look into that!

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nope, Twint is connected directly to your Bank. Neither Visa, nor Mastercard nor anyone else is playing middleman. Every Swiss Bank has their own Twint App which directly connects to your account.

When you pay at a store or person to person with Twint it’s a direct transaction.

[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Twint is indeed directly connect to my bank ... specifically to the VISA credit card account.

[–] kutt@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Twint isn’t really an alternative. Swiss cards still use the visa/mastercard networks.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Twint does not use Visa or Mastercard at all, it’s connected to your bank account and works with QR codes, NFC and Phone Numbers.

[–] kutt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's what i'm saying, it's just like Wero but slightly more advanced, a way to pay without using your card.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you still using physical cards? I haven’t used a physical card in years since NFC has been commonplace.

[–] kutt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Most of the time I use Apple Pay in person. However sometimes they don't accept it online so I have to use my card.

When I said "pay without using your card" I meant online, because I've never used Twint in a physical shop.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are yon never buying stuff at a local butcher shop, flower truck or at a farmers store (Hofladen)? Most of them only take cash or Twint here.

[–] kutt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I prefer to pay w/ cash in this case. I don't know why tbh.

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well cash is king, you’re actually doing the small stores a favor because even though Twint has really low fees and a threshold before they apply they still take a small cut at some point.

[–] kutt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

True but it's a bit hypocritical on my part. I should be using cash every time I can, not every time I can't use my card/apple pay.

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk -1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Because Switzerland is not in the EU and the ECB won't let that happen. They'd rather have the yanks ripping them off than allow real competition.

Protectionism sucks.

[–] NorskSud@lemmy.pt 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's a ridiculous claim as several EU countries have their own systems, which they are trying to make interoperable between them in some cases or merge into Wero in others.

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah, the single market for goods is well established. The same cannot be said for services.

[–] Lumisal@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure it's Switzerland that doesn't want to join the EU and not the other way around

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

Eh? I never said they did. They just have a very well built financial system. Unlike the EU.