PayPal Gains Role in Europe’s Payments Standards Push

PayPal said Thursday (July 2) that it has secured a seat at the table to influence the future of payments in Europe by joining the European Payments Council (EPC).

EPC brings together organizations that are involved with the rules, standards and infrastructure underpinning European payments. The council manages the rules for payment systems used across the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) that spans 41 European countries, PayPal said in a Thursday press release.

PayPal brings to the organization the expertise and perspective the company has gained as a regulated European bank and a global payments leader serving more than 430 million active accounts around the world, according to the release.

The EPC welcomed PayPal as one of its newest members in a June 24 post on X. The organization said in another post on X: “PayPal joins as a global payments leader, combining scale, advanced fraud prevention, and strong consumer trust to deliver seamless experiences and higher conversion for merchants worldwide.”

Sean Byrne, CEO of PayPal Europe, said in an interview with the EPC that was published Wednesday (July 1) that the payments market is competitive and rapidly evolving, with AI-native challengers and the rise of agentic commerce being among the latest examples.

“In the current European context, PayPal is well-positioned to be the wallet and commerce layer consumers reach for, regardless of the underlying rail,” Byrne said.

As a member of the EPC, PayPal aims to contribute to the organization’s efforts around the continued evolution of SEPA frameworks, initiatives focused on fraud prevention and risk management, further development of instant payments, and open collaboration with industry stakeholders across Europe to address challenges and opportunities in payments, Byrne said.

Byrne said that two shifts that stand out in the payments landscape are interoperability, because consumers expect to be able to pay anyone, anywhere, and AI, because payment providers will increasingly be involved in purchasing journeys that begin inside AI-powered interfaces.

“We look forward to collaborating with stakeholders across the European payments ecosystem and playing a meaningful role in shaping, strengthening and advancing the future of payments in Europe,” Byrne said in the interview.