Overview
Viva Wallet was founded in 2011 in Athens, Greece, and is a European banking-licensed payments and banking platform. Through the EU banking license passporting regime, Viva Wallet provides local acquiring and local-currency settlement in 23 European countries, serving over 100,000 businesses. It is a representative European "bank + payments" all-in-one solution.
Viva Wallet's core differentiator is integrating a business bank account, payment gateway, and acquiring terminals into a single platform: merchants can open a local IBAN account, accept online payments, and use in-store POS in one place. In 2022, J.P. Morgan completed a majority investment in Viva Wallet, strengthening its bank-grade compliance and capital position. Its target customers include local merchants in Greece and Southern Europe as well as international merchants expanding across multiple European countries.
Key Strengths
- European Local Acquiring: Local acquiring in 23 European countries via the EU passport regime, with settlement in local currency and better pricing than cross-border acquiring.
- Banking + Payments in One: A business bank account (IBAN), online payment gateway, and offline POS provided together, removing the need to integrate separately with banks and payment companies.
- Tap on Phone: Turns a smartphone into a POS terminal for NFC contactless acceptance with no extra hardware, dramatically lowering the barrier for micro-merchants.
- Bank-Grade License and Compliance: Holds a European banking license regulated by the Bank of Greece and the European supervisory framework, with J.P. Morgan's investment adding stability.
- Multi-Currency Accounts: Business accounts support multi-currency IBANs and local settlement, making it easy to manage funds across European countries.
Product Ecosystem
Business Bank Account (IBAN)
Provides merchants with local European IBAN accounts supporting multi-currency balances, local collections, and transfers, manageable by teams through multi-user permissions. Account and gateway data are connected for easy reconciliation and cash management.
Viva Wallet Payment Gateway
An online payment acquiring solution supporting major international card networks and local payment methods across several European countries. Both hosted checkout and API integration are available for ecommerce and SaaS subscriptions; see the payment integration guide for common approaches.
Smart POS and Tap on Phone
Offers traditional POS terminals and Tap on Phone software acceptance for physical stores, restaurants, retail, and mobile vendors, supporting Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, and local cards.
Viva App and Developer API
Merchants can view transactions in real time and manage stores and staff permissions via the Viva App; developers can deeply integrate payment and account capabilities through the REST API, suitable for backend integration scenarios.
Limitations
- Europe-Focused: Local acquiring is concentrated in Europe; there is no local service in Asia-Pacific or the Americas, so global operations need additional providers.
- Less Mature Advanced Features: Compared with Stripe and Adyen, some advanced risk, reporting, and analytics features are less complete.
- Significant Country Differences: Onboarding requirements, fees, and feature availability vary notably by country, so multi-country rollouts require country-by-country evaluation.
- Smaller Ecosystem: The merchant base and developer ecosystem are smaller, with fewer community resources and third-party plugins than leading platforms.
Use Cases
- Local Merchants in Greece and Southern Europe (★★★★★): Local acquiring plus a bank account and POS in one, an efficient solution for the Greek and Southern European markets.
- Multi-Country European Business (★★★★): Local acquiring in 23 countries suits chains and online platforms operating across Europe.
- Micro-Merchants and Mobile Acceptance (★★★★): Tap on Phone lets micro-merchants accept payments without hardware, at low cost.
- Global Business (★): Limited coverage outside Europe; for global acquiring choose Stripe or Adyen.
Pricing
| Service | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Online card payments | ~1.5%-2.5% | Varies by country and industry |
| In-store POS acquiring | ~1%-2.5% | Varies by card type and volume |
| Tap on Phone | ~1%-2.5% | Software acceptance, no hardware |
| Business account | Per plan | Some plans charge monthly or per transaction |
| POS hardware | Purchase or rental | Depends on terminal model |
Note: Viva Wallet prices its fees by country, plan, and volume; refer to local quotes. Evaluate total cost against the payment gateway rate comparison.
FAQ
- Which countries does Viva Wallet cover? Through the EU passport regime it offers local acquiring in 23 European countries, with core markets including Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Romania. See Cross-Border Payment Platform Comparison.
- Is Viva Wallet a bank? Yes. Viva Wallet holds a European banking license and is a regulated bank offering supervised deposit accounts and payment services under the Bank of Greece and the European supervisory framework. See Multi-Currency Payment Account Guide.
- How does Tap on Phone work? Merchants install the Viva app on an NFC-enabled Android phone and activate acceptance, then take contactless card payments without buying POS hardware. See Stripe Payment Integration Guide.
- Viva Wallet or Stripe? Viva Wallet excels at European local acquiring, banking integration, and offline POS; Stripe excels at developer ecosystem and global coverage. Choose Viva Wallet for European offline and account integration, Stripe for global online and developer experience.