CTS Eventim Powers Ticketing Innovation with EPI’s Wero Wallet Integration

CTS Eventim, Europe’s largest online ticketing platform, has become the first major e-commerce firm in Germany to integrate Wero, the instant digital wallet developed by the bank-backed European Payments Initiative (EPI). This breakthrough marks a pivotal moment in the continent’s payment landscape, positioning Wero as a home-grown rival to global card schemes and tech wallets.​

Wero Wallet: Mobile-First, Instant Account-to-Account Payments

Launched in mid-2024 and now boasting over 45 million European users, Wero is designed as a mobile-first, instant account-to-account (A2A) payment solution. Unlike traditional card-based methods, Wero leverages SEPA Instant Credit Transfer protocols to enable bank-to-bank transfers in under 10 seconds—allowing consumers to pay for tickets, goods, and services quickly and securely, using just a phone or email.​

PPRO, a leading European local payments platform, facilitated the integration—ensuring seamless transaction processing between users’ banks and CTS Eventim’s online shop. For the ticketing giant, this provides customers across Germany immediate settlement, strong authentication, and a smooth checkout experience for concerts, theater, and sports events.​

Strategic Assessment: A Breakthrough for EPI’s Payment Sovereignty Dream

The adoption by CTS Eventim is a landmark for EPI’s mission—to unify Europe’s fragmented retail payments infrastructure and reduce dependency on card networks like Visa, Mastercard, and tech players such as PayPal. Marketed as Europe’s “first sovereign instant payment wallet,” Wero’s reach now covers e-commerce, P2P, and will soon extend to point-of-sale and cross-border flows.​

Martina Weimert, EPI CEO, emphasizes: “Eventim is the first online ticketing platform to allow its customers to use Wero to purchase concert tickets to see their favourite music band, or to support their soccer team in the stadium. Our vision is instant, secure account-to-account payments across borders—making commerce convenient for consumers and more cost-efficient for merchants.”​

With CTS Eventim marketing over 300 million tickets yearly, the partnership showcases Wero’s potential for mass adoption. It also demonstrates how bank partnerships and PSP infrastructure like PPRO enable rapid onboarding for merchants and their users alike.​

Market Impact: Speed, Security, and European Control

Wero’s integration streamlines ticket buying in Germany, turning slow, often delayed payments into near real-time transactions. For merchants, this means faster funds, lower processing costs, and reduced chargeback risk—since funds move instantly and only from authenticated bank accounts.​

For consumers, the experience is equally transformative: mobile authentication, instant confirmation, and no need for credit card entry. As Wero spreads across e-commerce and in-store payments, it promises to make daily spending simpler—while protecting user data under European privacy laws.

Predictions: Expansion, Competition, and Payment Evolution

• Progressive Rollout: CTS Eventim’s move marks the start of a wider German and European deployment, as banks, acquirers, and merchants prepare to activate Wero for instant A2A payments.​
• Rivalry with Card Giants: Wero aims to challenge the dominance of international card schemes in European retail, offering equivalent speed, security, and regulatory protection—but at lower cost.​
• Innovation Ahead: Upcoming features include BNPL backed by banks, digital identity integration, and merchant loyalty programs directly embedded in the wallet.​
• Unified Ecosystem: Wero’s success could drive banks, PSPs, and EU merchants to adopt more unified payment frameworks, furthering Europe’s push for payment sovereignty and interoperability.​

By the end of 2026, analysts expect Wero to be offered by most major banks and accepted at tens of thousands of e-commerce merchants, with further expansion to brick-and-mortar point-of-sale and cross-border shopping

account-to-accountbanking partnershipsCross-border paymentsCTS EventimEPIEuropean fintechEuropean Payments InitiativeGerman e-commerceinstant paymentsmobile walletPayment infrastructurepayment sovereigntyPPROSEPA Instant Credit Transferticketing innovationWero wallet