The European Central Bank has selected 36 payment service providers, including Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, to participate in its digital euro pilot — a 12‑month operational test phase beginning in the second half of 2027.
The pilot will validate a beta version of the digital euro across everyday payment scenarios, from point‑of‑sale transactions to online and offline person‑to‑person transfers.
The move follows a call for expressions of interest issued in March, which attracted more than 50 applications, signalling strong private‑sector appetite to shape the next phase of Europe’s retail‑payments infrastructure. The ECB said the selected PSPs represent a broad mix of business models, sizes and geographies across the euro area.
Under the pilot design, PSPs will act as distributors or acquirers, or both. Distributing PSPs will onboard Eurosystem staff — the pilot’s individual end users — and provide access, liquidity and transaction management through either the ECB’s digital euro app or their own integrated apps. Acquiring PSPs will enable merchant acceptance, including SoftPOS‑based NFC payments and e‑commerce flows.
The pilot will run at the ECB and 19 national central banks, with participating PSPs connecting to the Eurosystem’s Digital Euro Service Platform (DESP) for end‑to‑end testing. The beta digital euro will be issued by Eurosystem central banks upon receipt of funds from PSPs, but will not carry legal‑tender status and will operate under existing cashless‑payment rules.
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the response shows the private sector is “ready to advance quickly” with the digital euro project. The ECB aims to be technically prepared for a potential first issuance in 2029, assuming the digital euro Regulation is adopted in 2026.
The pilot is designed to give the Eurosystem hands‑on evidence of system robustness, scalability and usability, while allowing PSPs to test onboarding, settlement, liquidity management, incident handling and refunds in a controlled environment. PSPs cannot charge fees to end users during the pilot and must comply with existing regulatory frameworks, including PSD2, GDPR and AML rules.
Although the pilot does not pre‑empt any decision to issue a digital euro, it marks the most concrete operational step in Europe’s digital‑money agenda to date. The structure — with PSPs distributing and acquiring on behalf of merchants and users — mirrors emerging models for tokenised deposits and regulated digital settlement assets, positioning the digital euro as a potential anchor instrument for future token‑compatible payment rails.
The ECB said the list of pilot locations will be finalised later in the year, with onboarding and technical integration beginning in the third quarter of 2026 once PSP participation agreements are signed.
Participating PSPs in the ECB digital euro pilot
Germany: Commerzbank; DZ Bank; Deutsche Kreditbank; HypoVereinsbank; Sparkassen‑Finanzgruppe (selected entities); Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken (selected entities). France: Crédit Agricole; Société Générale; BPCE Group; La Banque Postale. Spain: CaixaBank; BBVA; Santander; Banco Sabadell; Bankinter. Italy: Intesa Sanpaolo; UniCredit; Banco BPM; BPER Banca; Poste Italiane. Netherlands: ING; Rabobank; ABN AMRO. Belgium: KBC; Belfius; BNP Paribas Fortis. Austria: Erste Group; Raiffeisen Bank International; BAWAG. Portugal: Millennium BCP; Novo Banco; Caixa Geral de Depósitos. Ireland: Bank of Ireland; AIB; Permanent TSB. Finland: OP Financial Group; Nordea Finland; S‑Bank. Luxembourg: Banque Internationale à Luxembourg; Spuerkeess; Raiffeisen Luxembourg. Greece: Alpha Bank; Eurobank; National Bank of Greece; Piraeus Bank. Cyprus: Bank of Cyprus; Hellenic Bank. Malta: Bank of Valletta; HSBC Malta. Slovenia: NLB; Nova KBM. Slovakia: Tatra Banka; Slovenská Sporiteľňa. Estonia: LHV Bank; SEB Estonia; Swedbank Estonia. Latvia: SEB Latvia; Swedbank Latvia; Citadele Banka. Lithuania: SEB Lithuania; Swedbank Lithuania; Šiaulių Bankas.
