European Payment Processing Landscape

Adyen is a global full-stack payment platform offering SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Credit Transfer, IBAN payments, and local acquiring across Europe. It serves enterprise merchants with unified commerce (online, POS, mobile) and supports 250+ payment methods and 150+ currencies.

Klarna offers BNPL, direct payments, and pay-later solutions across Europe. Strongly integrated with SEPA and open banking via its consumer-facing app and merchant checkout. Klarna acquired Sofort, giving it deep SEPA and online bank transfer capabilities.

Stripe is the dominant payment infrastructure platform for internet businesses. Its EU entity (Stripe Payments Europe) processes SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Credit Transfer, IBAN collections, and supports Bancontact, iDEAL, giropay, and open banking via Stripe Financial Connections.

Checkout.com provides end-to-end payment processing with SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Credit Transfer, IBAN issuing, and local acquiring across 30+ European markets. Its open banking solution supports real-time account-to-account payments across the EU and UK.

Trustly is Europe’s leading open banking payment network, enabling instant bank-to-bank payments across 30+ countries. It connects directly to over 12,000 banks via API, supporting SEPA Instant Credit Transfer and real-time account verification without cards or wallets.

Worldpay (part of FIS) is one of Europe’s largest payment processors, handling card acquiring, SEPA Direct Debit, and omnichannel processing. It supports multi-currency IBAN settlement and local payment methods including iDEAL, Bancontact, and giropay across the EU.

Paysafe owns Skrill, Neteller, and paysafecard, offering digital wallets, prepaid solutions, and card processing across Europe. It provides SEPA Direct Debit, IBAN accounts for merchants, and specializes in high-risk and iGaming payment processing.

Mollie is a popular European payment gateway supporting iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Credit Transfer, and credit cards. It offers a simple API, transparent pricing, and is especially strong in the Benelux region with deep local payment method integration.

Viva Wallet is a European neobank and payment processor licensed across 24 EU countries. It offers SEPA payments, local IBAN accounts, POS terminals, online payment gateway, and business accounts. Its local acquiring model covers all major EU markets with dedicated acquiring licenses.

PayU (part of Prosus) provides payment processing across 20+ markets including Europe. It supports SEPA Direct Debit, IBAN payments, and local European methods. PayU is particularly strong in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Romania) and emerging markets.

GoCardless specializes in recurring payment processing via direct debit across 30+ countries, including SEPA Direct Debit and UK Direct Debit. It has expanded into open banking with instant bank-to-bank payments, reducing reliance on card networks for subscription businesses.

Novalnet is a PCI-certified German payment gateway and processor offering SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Credit Transfer, IBAN, and 150+ local payment methods. It specializes in subscription management, recurring billing, and high-volume processing for European merchants.