Why e-QR
The gap
SEPA Instant is ready. The merchant-facing initiation layer is missing.
SCT Inst is now mandated for all EU PSPs. Fees cannot exceed regular credit transfers. Verification of Payee went live in October 2025. The infrastructure is in place — but there is no standardised way for a merchant to present a payment request that any payer app can read, verify, and execute.
No unified merchant QR
Banks, fintechs and POS vendors use incompatible proprietary formats. A merchant cannot present one QR readable by all PSPs.
No interoperable POS flow
Each A2A POS solution requires separate integration. POS vendors integrate once with card schemes — there is no equivalent for SEPA Instant.
No merchant trust layer
Without a verified merchant registry, payer apps cannot confirm who is behind a QR code. This is the primary attack vector for QR payment fraud globally.
€16+ bn annual merchant cost
Card acceptance costs European merchants an estimated €16+ bn per year. A standardised A2A alternative keeps this volume within the banking relationship.
The familiar parallel
Online, Estonia solved this years ago.
The Pangaliit banklink specification defines this exact pattern — merchant-initiated structured data, prefilled in the customer's bank, customer confirms, settles. e-QR extends it to the physical world, with stronger security and no bilateral contracts.
| e-QR | Banklink | |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier | QR code · NFC · deep link | HTTPS POST |
| Payload | Amount, currency, reference… | VK_AMOUNT, VK_CURR, VK_REF… |
| Trust | JWS ES256 + Merchant Registry | RSA + SHA-512 (VK_MAC) |
| IBAN | Never exposed — registry resolved | In payload or bank contract |
| Integration | Open standard — implement once | Bilateral contract per bank |
| Scope | POS · invoices · unattended · online | Online e-commerce |
Regulatory alignment
e-QR is not ahead of the market.
The regulations are already here.
EU Retail Payments Strategy calls for pan-European instant payment solutions
and QR-based retail acceptance
Instant Payments Regulation (EU 2024/886)
mandates SCT Inst for all PSPs, with fee parity
Verification of Payee goes live
IBAN/name matching mandatory for all SCT Inst. e-QR's Merchant Registry extends this same trust principle to POS.
PSD3/PSR political agreement reached
PSP fraud liability significantly increased.
Use cases