Hacker News Reader

Comment by mathverse | Hacker News Reader

I have lost faith in European Union. All these things are just too little and too late.

Why the heck did Thailand manage to create instant payment system that works across Asian countries and European Union did not even finish similar system inside the EU?

Yes we have SEPA payments but these are useless in most payment-to-merchant type of payments across the EU.

We already should have had such system widely used and accepted across the WHOLE UNION.

I am glad we will have something but if I still need a VISA/MC card when I travel abroad ill just be constantly reminded of stupidity and inefficiency of the EU.

View on HN

SEPA payments are now instant in almost every country. I understand the rollout is gradual but in some of the countries QR payments through SEPA is has been highly popular for few years now.

I have merchants/restaurants asking me if i can pay with QR instead of card because they get more money. And in local eCommerce all the online stores give it as option and often have it as prefered default.

I think the problem is that many countries have huge lag in adoption and often lie about it. Electronic crossborder prescriptions (ePrescription) was pushed and countries claimed to adopt it so they got some EU money yet when you are in Greece (one of the countries claiming support) nobody has ever really heard about ePrescription.

The other problem is constant Not invented here syndrom of Germany that never wants to adopt anything already running and instead invents their own variation.

Because whatever the HN crowd thinks of the EU, the EU is capitalist first. The EU mostly lets the markets figure stuff out, and only steps in when markets fail miserably.

Literally nothing prevented EU banks (or any other banks) from getting together and implementing this.

Exactly. I dont understand how many europeans dont see this at all.

You have lost faith in the EU because they want to do exactly what you want ...?

Does the Thai payment system work in a German restaurant? Then why should the EU one work in Malaysia?

Can you pay with WeChat in France? Can you pay with CashApp in Ireland?

This is a very silly comment. I for one more than welcome this new payment system.

You misread this comment. Thai payment system works across the Asian countries (they are not in a UNION are they?). You can use that payment system if you have a bank in Singapore,Korea,Indonesia etc.

Instant no fee payments.

SEPA is instant and no fees outside the EU too, like Norway and UK.

It's great Thailand has this, but I still fail to see how EU trying to copy Thailand (for a definition of copying) makes you lose faith in the EU. You would rather not have this no-fee payment system in the EU? How is this at all a negative thing?

>SEPA is instant and no fees outside the EU too, like Norway and UK. This is not the point. They need to be in SEPA for it to work.

>It's great Thailand has this, but I still fail to see how EU trying to copy Thailand (for a definition of copying) makes you lose faith in the EU. You would rather not have this no-fee payment system in the EU? How is this at all a negative thing?

The point is Thailand managed this due to economic, capitalist needs across different countries and cultures.

The EU is a union and did not even manage to do that as well as Thailand.

It's not surprising at all that a single country could do this, especially since it's such a relatively affluent one and none of their neighbors had anything similar.

Thailand is definitely not an affluent country.

That why I used the word relatively. Many of its neighbors are way less affluent.

ES has Bizum, NL has Tikkie, and iDEAL, IT has Bancomat, Poland has BLIK.

Thailand is just a country. Why are you comparing Thailand to the world's second biggest economy?

Are you really telling me that failing to coordinate several dozen countries, some with their own currency, is a showcase of failure of the EU?

This makes absolutely no sense.

Those services you mentioned along with some others (like German Giropay) have been connected under one umbrela of Wero in 2024.

That's whats so confusing about this Digital euro. Why not just push Wero? It already is cooperation of many banks that have presence all around europe. I guess difference is that Digital euro will be going through european central bank? That could be huge fail because by 2029 (when digital euro should start) SEPA instant payments with QR codes and initiatives like Wero will be super established.

In very touristy places it is not uncommon for merchants to allow Chinese payment networks to be used.

Additionally you need to understand that to be a true VISA/MC alternative like JCB that card needs to work abroad with the POS terminals just needing a SW update. And it needs to rolled out NOW.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com