SIBS sets end-2026 for MB WAY transfers across 13 countries and 2027 for in-store acceptance

SIBS said MB WAY users will be able to send and receive money with customers in 13 European countries by the end of 2026, and that in-store and online payments by QR code or NFC in those same countries are planned for 2027. The countries named are Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

The reach rests on the interoperability protocol SIBS agreed earlier in 2026 with BANCOMAT, Vipps MobilePay and EPI, which owns Wero; MB WAY users have been able to transact with Bizum and BANCOMAT customers by phone number since mid-2025.

This dates the step that matters for acceptance. Person-to-person interoperability between domestic wallets changes nothing at a till; merchant acceptance over a common POS does, and SIBS has now put a year on it. Portugal is one of the most card-concentrated acceptance markets in Europe, and a Portuguese merchant taking MB WAY from a German or Italian visitor is the first consumer-visible proof that the domestic schemes can function as a pan-European acceptance network rather than a set of bilateral remittance corridors. It also sets a benchmark the ENP founders will be measured against.

Whether end-2026 holds for all 13 corridors or only the original Bizum and BANCOMAT ones, which acquirers commit to the common POS specification, and how MB WAY merchant pricing compares with card acceptance in each market.

• hrportugal.sapo.pt
• Jornal Económico