Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Lagarde underscored Europe’s dependence on foreign digital payment infrastructure. “Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Alipay are all controlled by American or Chinese companies,” she noted, arguing, “We should make sure there is a European offer.”
In Switzerland there is a service called Twint, basically an app to send money to a phone number or to scan a qr code to pay. It is very popular at farmer’s markets, but also works on any payment terminal, since the terminal shows a qr code on the small display. The money can be charged to a card if you want, but also directly withdrawn from your bank account. So in this last version, Twint allows to pay electronically without using Mastercard or visa. I have always wondered why such a system was able to arise in small Switzerland and there is nothing similar in any other European country as far as I know.