Wallets/ideal
iDEAL
0 standards supported
Overview
iDEAL is Netherlands' dominant A2A payment method — 73% of all Dutch online purchases + 1.3 billion+ transactions annually [1, 2, nl-cro]. Used by nearly all Dutch consumers + accepted by 210,000+ businesses for e-commerce + invoices + payment requests.
October 2023 — EPI acquired iDEAL [3]: iDEAL transitioned from Currence (Dutch e-commerce organization) ownership to European Payments Initiative (EPI) — strategic European A2A consolidation. iDEAL planned to become European A2A instant payment scheme + multi-faceted digital wallet.
2025-2027 Wero transition [4]: iDEAL will gradually disappear from 2026 + be replaced by EPI's Wero. January 2026 — Dutch consumers start seeing combined iDEAL/Wero logo at online checkouts. Late 2026 — first Dutch webshops switch to Wero. 2027 — iDEAL expected to disappear completely.
History
2005 — iDEAL launches [2] by Currence (Dutch bank-consortium e-commerce organization).
2006-2023 — Currence-controlled NL dominance [2]: Multi-bank Dutch consortium scheme.
October 2023 — EPI acquires iDEAL + Payconiq International [3]: European A2A consolidation.
July 2024 — Wero launches by EPI [4]: Initially replaced Giropay (DE) + Paylib (FR) + Payconiq (BE/LU).
January 2026 — Combined iDEAL/Wero logo at NL checkouts [4].
Late 2026-2027 — Wero replaces iDEAL in Netherlands [4]: iDEAL disappears 2027.
Ownership & operator
Operating entity (since Oct 2023): iDEAL B.V. — subsidiary of EPI Company (European Payments Initiative).
Historical (2005-Oct 2023): Currence Holding — Dutch e-commerce organization (Dutch bank-consortium-owned).
EPI shareholders: 14+ major European banks (BNP Paribas, BPCE, Deutsche Bank, ING, KBC, La Banque Postale, Nexi, PSP partners) + Worldline.
Regulator: DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank) + ECB.
Technical integration
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Channels | iDEAL online checkout + iDEAL mobile redirect (to user's bank app) + iDEAL merchant QR |
| Identifiers | Bank account |
| Account model | A2A (account-to-account) bank-direct via consumer's bank app authorization |
| Coverage | Nearly all Dutch consumers + 210K+ businesses |
| Transition (2025-2027): iDEAL → Wero migration via combined iDEAL/Wero logo (Jan 2026+) | |
| License: Payment scheme (Dutch bank-consortium → EPI 2023+) |
Users & growth
2025 baseline [1]:
- Annual transactions: 1.3+ billion (~108M monthly avg)
- Dutch online purchase share: 73%
- Dutch consumer coverage: nearly all
- Accepting businesses: 210,000+
Use cases
Dutch e-commerce checkout (73% market share); invoices; payment requests via iDEAL link; B2B + government payments; transition to Wero-based pan-European A2A by 2027.
Implementations & partners
Operator (since Oct 2023): iDEAL B.V. (EPI Company subsidiary).
Owner: European Payments Initiative (EPI) — 14+ major European banks + Worldline.
Major Dutch alternatives: wero (replacing iDEAL by 2027); credit cards (smaller share in NL); PayPal; Klarna BNPL; Apple Pay + Google Pay tokenized over iDEAL.
Major comparable European A2A rails:
- wero (EPI successor; pan-European)
- bizum (Spain bank-consortium)
- [[swish]] (Sweden bank-consortium)
- [[mb-way]] (Portugal bank-consortium)
- blik (Poland)
- [[satispay]] (Italy)
Regulator: DNB + ECB.
Fun facts
- NL's #1 payment method — 73% of all Dutch online purchases.
- 1.3B+ annual transactions + 210K+ Dutch businesses.
- 2005 launch by Currence — Dutch bank-consortium e-commerce-payment scheme.
- October 2023 EPI acquisition — European A2A consolidation milestone.
- 2025-2027 transition to Wero — iDEAL becomes Wero by 2027.
- Jan 2026 combined iDEAL/Wero logo at NL checkouts.
Comparison
| Feature | iDEAL | wero (EPI successor) | bizum (ES bank-consortium analogous) | [[swish]] (SE bank-consortium analogous) | [[mb-way]] (PT bank-consortium analogous) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | iDEAL B.V. (EPI Company subsidiary since Oct 2023) | EPI Company | Sociedad de Procedimientos de Pago | Getswish AB (6-bank Swedish consortium) | SIBS |
| Type | NL A2A bank-direct payment scheme | Pan-European EPI A2A digital wallet | Spanish bank-consortium A2A | Swedish bank-consortium A2A | PT bank-consortium A2A |
| Country | Netherlands (→ Wero by 2027) | DE + FR + BE + LU + NL transition + more | Spain | Sweden | Portugal |
| Distinctive | 73% NL online purchase share + 1.3B+ annual tx | EPI European unified wallet | EPI EuroPA cross-border interop (IT + PT) | EPI EuroPA cross-border interop | EPI EuroPA cross-border interop |
Status
Active (transitioning to Wero by 2027) [1, 4]:
- iDEAL B.V. (EPI Company subsidiary since Oct 2023) since 2005.
- 73% NL online purchases + 1.3B+ annual tx + 210K+ businesses.
- Jan 2026 combined iDEAL/Wero logo + late-2026 first webshops switch + 2027 iDEAL disappears completely.
- DNB + ECB-regulated.
Sources
- 1 iDEAL — Wikipedia
- 2 Understanding iDEAL — Airwallex
- 3 iDEAL + Wero — Dutch Payments Association
- 4 iDEAL to disappear, Wero rolls out — DutchNews
- nl-cro In-corpus:
reports/countries/NL-netherlands.md
Source
Biography extracted from ideal.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.