TL;DR
What Happened to Sofort
Sofort was a bank transfer payment method available across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Klarna acquired Sofort in 2014 and, in late 2023, announced its consolidation into Klarna Pay Now. The standalone Sofort payment method was fully discontinued on September 30, 2024 [1].
Merchants that relied on Sofort needed to migrate to Klarna Pay Now (which provides similar bank transfer functionality under the Klarna brand) or switch to alternative bank transfer methods such as SEPA Instant, Open Banking-based payment initiation, or country-specific methods like iDEAL or EPS.
This is not an isolated event. Giropay, Germany's other major bank transfer method, was also deprecated in mid-2024. The European payment landscape is consolidating around SEPA Instant as the universal A2A rail, with country-specific methods serving particular markets.
SEPA Instant: The Universal European Rail
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is the most important development in European payments since the original SEPA standardization. It settles transfers in under 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at fees no higher than standard SEPA transfers [2].
Since January 2025, Eurozone banks are required to offer SEPA Instant for receiving payments. The sending obligation follows later. Non-eurozone EU member states must comply by January 2027 (receiving) and July 2027 (sending plus Verification of Payee) [2].
Verification of Payee (VoP) is now mandatory alongside SEPA Instant in the Eurozone. Before a payment is executed, the sending bank verifies that the payee name matches the IBAN. This reduces fraud and misdirected payments but adds a verification step that merchants and platforms need to account for in their checkout flows.
SEPA Instant will progressively replace standard SEPA Credit Transfers for most use cases. For businesses collecting payments from European customers, SEPA Instant provides immediate payment confirmation with irrevocable settlement, significantly better than the 1-2 day settlement window of standard SEPA.
Country-Specific Methods That Still Matter
While SEPA Instant provides a universal rail, several country-specific payment methods retain dominant positions in their home markets. These methods predate SEPA Instant and continue to be preferred by local consumers due to familiarity, integration with domestic banking apps, and established merchant acceptance.
iDEAL (Netherlands): The dominant online payment method in the Netherlands, historically accounting for around 70% of Dutch e-commerce transactions. iDEAL redirects the customer to their bank's online banking portal to authorize a direct transfer. For any business selling to Dutch consumers, iDEAL is non-negotiable. iDEAL is transitioning to iDEAL 2.0, which builds on SEPA Instant and Open Banking infrastructure.
Bancontact (Belgium): Belgium's domestic debit card and online payment scheme, used by the majority of Belgian consumers for both in-store and online purchases. Bancontact supports card-present (contactless NFC) and card-not-present (online redirect) transactions. Its integration with Payconiq enables QR-based mobile payments.
EPS (Austria): Austria's online bank transfer method, which redirects customers to their Austrian bank for payment authorization. Similar to iDEAL in function, EPS is the preferred online payment method for Austrian consumers alongside cards.
Klarna Pay Now: The successor to Sofort. Klarna Pay Now provides immediate bank transfer functionality under the Klarna brand. It is available across Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and other European markets where Sofort previously operated. Klarna also offers Pay Later (invoice) and installment options, though those are separate products.
Przelewy24 (Poland): Poland's dominant online payment aggregator, connecting to all major Polish banks. Essential for any business selling into the Polish market.
European Card Economics: Why Interchange Is Cheaper
For international businesses already selling into Europe via card networks, the EU's Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) creates a structurally different cost environment than the US or APAC.
Consumer card interchange in the EU is capped at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit [3]. Compare this to the US, where interchange ranges from 1.0-2.5% depending on card type and is uncapped. A transaction that costs a merchant 2.5% in interchange in the US costs 0.2-0.3% in the EU.
Cross-border card-not-present interchange within the EEA is capped at 1.15% for debit and 1.50% for credit [3]. Post-Brexit UK ↔ EEA interchange is higher and under regulatory review. For a detailed breakdown of all five cost layers in payment gateway pricing, including how EU caps compare to uncapped markets, see our gateway costs blog.
The practical implication: card acceptance in Europe is significantly cheaper than in the US, which changes the calculus on whether APMs save money. In Europe, the case for APMs is less about cost saving and more about conversion optimization. iDEAL in the Netherlands and Bancontact in Belgium convert at higher rates than international cards because they are the methods consumers expect and trust.
What International Businesses Should Do
Three priorities for European payment acceptance.
First, ensure SEPA Instant readiness. As VoP becomes mandatory across the Eurozone, your payment infrastructure needs to support the verification step. SEPA Instant provides immediate, irrevocable settlement, which eliminates the cash flow uncertainty of standard SEPA transfers.
Second, integrate country-specific APMs for your top European markets. iDEAL for the Netherlands, Bancontact for Belgium, EPS for Austria, Przelewy24 for Poland. These methods can lift checkout conversion by 10-20% over cards alone because they are the payment methods local consumers prefer [4].
Third, take advantage of EU interchange caps. If you are selling into Europe from outside the EU, your card processing costs are structurally lower than in the US or APAC. A payment gateway with local European acquiring can further reduce costs by processing transactions as intra-EEA rather than cross-border.
For the equivalent breakdown of how e-wallets and QR payments work across Southeast Asia, where the payment landscape is structurally different from Europe, see our SEA payments guide.
Sources
[1] Solidgate. "Klarna Deprecated Sofort: What Merchants Need to Do." May 2026. https://solidgate.com/blog/klarna-deprecated-sofort-as-a-payment-method/
[2] Klarna. "How Instant Payments Will Spark Competition in Europe." 2023. https://www.klarna.com/international/press/klarna-comment-how-instant-payments-will-spark-competition-in-europe/
[3] Adyen. "Interchange Fees Explained." April 2026. https://www.adyen.com/knowledge-hub/interchange-fees-explained
[4] GR4VY. "Payment Methods by Country 2026: What Dominates Each Market." April 2026. https://gr4vy.com/posts/payment-methods-by-country-2026-what-dominates-each-market-and-how-to-accept-them/
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