Europe is undergoing a massive transformation in digital payments, with over 90% of transactions now cashless in countries like Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands (European Payments Council). The rise of mobile payments, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), and real-time bank transfers is reshaping customer expectations and forcing businesses to adapt quickly.
However, operating in multiple European markets presents serious challenges:
For companies processing high volumes of cross-border transactions, these issues lead to:
Lost revenue due to declined payments and friction at checkout.
Higher operational costs from managing multiple PSPs (Payment Service Providers).
Slower expansion into new European markets due to regulatory barriers.
This is why payment orchestration platforms (POPs) are becoming essential for European businesses in 2025. By centralizing payment operations, optimizing transaction routing, and automating compliance, payment orchestration allows businesses to scale across Europe seamlessly while improving approval rates, security, and customer experience.
Discover how payment orchestration improves global payment performance with Gr4vy’s platform.
A payment orchestration platform (POP) is an intelligent, centralized layer that helps businesses:
Connect multiple PSPs (Payment Service Providers) – Instead of relying on a single payment processor, businesses can integrate multiple PSPs, ensuring higher authorization rates and lower fees.
Optimize transaction routing – Payments can be dynamically routed to the best-performing provider, reducing declines and optimizing costs.
Enable automated failover mechanisms – If a payment fails with one provider, the system automatically retries with another PSP, reducing lost revenue.
Support multiple currencies and payment methods – Businesses can easily expand across Europe, offering region-specific payment options like iDEAL, SEPA, SOFORT, and Klarna.
Enhance fraud prevention and compliance – AI-driven security features help businesses comply with PSD2, GDPR, and PCI DSS without manual intervention.
| Feature | Payment orchestration | Traditional payment gateway | Payment aggregator |
| Multi-PSP support | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Smart transaction routing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Failover protection | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Support for alternative payment methods | ✅ Yes | ✅ Limited | ✅ Limited |
| Regulatory compliance management | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Unlike traditional payment gateways, which require businesses to commit to a single provider, payment orchestration provides flexibility, allowing companies to adapt to market trends, reduce transaction costs, and increase payment success rates.
Read more about how payment orchestration can improve approval rates in this guide.
Europe’s payments ecosystem is experiencing rapid transformation, driven by shifting consumer preferences, regulatory developments, and technological advancements. Businesses operating in this region must adapt to new payment behaviors and emerging trends to stay competitive.
Unlike North America, where card payments dominate, Europe’s payment landscape is highly fragmented, requiring businesses to support a wide variety of payment methods:
| Country | Preferred Payment Methods | Key Considerations |
| Germany | SOFORT, PayPal, SEPA bank transfers | Strong preference for direct bank payments |
| Netherlands | iDEAL, Apple Pay, Mastercard | iDEAL accounts for over 70% of online transactions |
| France | Carte Bancaire, Visa, Paylib | Local payment networks still play a major role |
| Nordics | Klarna, MobilePay, Swish | BNPL dominates, with Klarna leading the region |
| UK | Debit cards, PayPal, Open Banking | Open Banking adoption is rapidly expanding |
For businesses operating across multiple European countries, failing to offer the right payment options leads to high cart abandonment rates and reduced conversion rates.
With payment orchestration, businesses can dynamically offer the right payment method based on the customer’s location and preferences—ensuring higher checkout success rates.
Learn about Europe’s latest payment trends in this detailed guide.
Europe leads the world in contactless payments and mobile wallet adoption.
Key statistics on digital payments in Europe:
Consumers are expecting faster, more secure, and more seamless payment experiences, and businesses that fail to offer modern payment methods risk losing customers to competitors.
Payment orchestration helps businesses integrate new payment methods instantly—whether it’s real-time bank transfers, BNPL, or digital wallets—without complex development work.
BNPL usage in Europe is expected to surpass €300 billion by 2025, as consumers continue to seek flexible payment options. However, regulatory scrutiny is increasing under PSD2, requiring providers to ensure responsible lending practices.
For businesses, integrating BNPL options like Klarna, Afterpay, and PayPal Pay Later is critical for maintaining high conversion rates.
With payment orchestration, merchants can seamlessly integrate multiple BNPL providers and dynamically select the best option per transaction.
Discover Europe’s most popular payment methods in this complete guide.
For merchants expanding across Europe, cross-border transactions bring unique challenges:
Higher fraud risks – Cross-border payments are more likely to trigger fraud alerts and transaction declines.
FX and processing fees – Currency conversion fees and higher interchange rates drive up costs.
Regulatory differences – Each country enforces different rules for authentication, data security, and compliance.
Payment orchestration helps businesses optimize cross-border transactions by routing payments through local acquirers, reducing FX costs, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Learn how payment orchestration reduces failed cross-border transactions in this article.
As businesses expand across Europe, compliance with payment regulations is critical to ensuring seamless transactions and avoiding penalties. The European Union (EU) has implemented strict regulatory frameworks to protect consumers, enhance security, and promote competition in the payments industry. Payment orchestration platforms help businesses navigate these complexities by automating compliance processes.
What is PSD2?
The Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is a European regulation that governs electronic payments and data sharing in financial services. Its primary objectives are to
Enhance security through Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
Encourage innovation through Open Banking APIs.
Reduce fraud by enforcing stricter transaction monitoring.
How does SCA impact businesses?
SCA requires customers to verify their identity using at least two of the following authentication factors:
Something they know (password or PIN).
Something they have (smartphone or hardware token).
Something they are (biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial recognition).
While SCA improves security, it has also caused a rise in cart abandonment rates, as additional authentication steps introduce checkout friction.
Solution: Payment orchestration ensures seamless compliance with SCA by dynamically applying authentication only when required, reducing unnecessary friction.
Explore how to optimize payment authentication in this guide.
What is GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European law that governs how businesses collect, store, and process personal data—including payment information.
GDPR requires that businesses:
Encrypt sensitive payment data to prevent unauthorized access.
Ensure secure storage of customer payment details using PCI DSS-compliant vaulting solutions.
Give customers control over their financial data, including the right to request deletion.
Failure to comply with GDPR can result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover.
Solution: Payment orchestration platforms help businesses comply with GDPR by leveraging secure tokenization and vaulting services, eliminating the need to store sensitive cardholder data.
Learn how Gr4vy’s vaulting and tokenization solution simplifies GDPR compliance here.
What is SEPA?
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment integration initiative by the EU that simplifies cross-border euro transactions. It ensures that euro-denominated payments are processed as efficiently as domestic payments across 36 European countries.
SEPA Instant Payments (SCT Inst)
A key component of SEPA, SCT Inst allows businesses and consumers to transfer funds across Europe in less than 10 seconds, 24/7.
How does SEPA impact businesses?
Lower transaction fees for euro-based payments.
Faster settlements, reducing cash flow delays.
Reduced reliance on card networks like Visa and Mastercard.
Solution: Payment orchestration allows businesses to seamlessly integrate SEPA Instant Payments alongside other payment methods, ensuring the fastest and most cost-effective transactions.
Discover how SEPA payments impact European commerce in this report.
What is Open Banking?
Open Banking is a regulatory framework that enables customers to share their financial data securely with third-party providers, improving transparency and fostering competition in the payments industry.
How does Open Banking improve payments?
Direct account-to-account payments, reducing dependency on card networks.
Lower transaction costs by bypassing interchange fees.
Stronger fraud prevention, as payments are authenticated directly through the customer’s bank.
Open Banking adoption is growing rapidly in Europe, with the UK leading the charge.
Solution: Payment orchestration allows businesses to integrate Open Banking payments seamlessly, providing customers with faster, more secure payment options.
Explore the future of Open Banking in Europe here.
Each European country has its own interpretation of regulations, making cross-border compliance difficult.
Regulatory updates frequently change requirements, forcing businesses to constantly adapt.
Failure to comply results in penalties, reputational damage, and potential loss of payment processing privileges.
Solution: Payment orchestration automates compliance, allowing businesses to stay ahead of regulatory changes without disrupting operations.
Want to ensure your payments meet compliance standards? Talk to a Gr4vy expert.
Payment orchestration is an advanced payment management system that enables businesses to integrate multiple payment service providers (PSPs), optimize transaction routing, and automate compliance. It works by dynamically selecting the best-performing PSP for each transaction, reducing failed payments, improving approval rates, and lowering processing costs.
A payment orchestration platform (POP) is a technology layer that connects merchants with multiple PSPs, payment gateways, fraud detection tools, and alternative payment methods. It simplifies payment operations by automating transaction processing, failover handling, and regulatory compliance.
Unlike traditional payment gateways that rely on a single processor, a payment orchestrator integrates multiple PSPs and optimizes transaction routing to ensure the best performance. It also offers failover mechanisms to recover failed transactions, ensuring higher success rates and lower processing fees.
Higher authorization rates by intelligently routing payments to the most successful PSP.
Lower transaction costs by selecting the most cost-effective payment providers.
Seamless regulatory compliance with PSD2, GDPR, and SEPA.
Enhanced fraud prevention using AI-driven security tools.
Cross-border payment optimization by supporting multiple local payment methods.
| Feature | Payment orchestration | Payment gateway | Middleware |
| Multi-PSP support | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Smart transaction routing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Failover protection | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Support for local payment methods | ✅ Yes | ✅ Limited | ❌ No |
| Regulatory compliance automation | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Any business that processes online transactions can benefit from payment orchestration, including:
E-commerce stores looking to improve checkout conversion rates.
SaaS and subscription businesses needing reliable recurring payments.
Travel and hospitality companies handling multi-currency and cross-border transactions.
Marketplaces and platforms requiring multiple PSP integrations.
Some of the top payment orchestration providers include Gr4vy, Adyen, Stripe, and Primer, each offering unique features for different business needs.
Want to learn more? Talk to a Gr4vy payment expert today.
Europe’s payments ecosystem is evolving rapidly, with increasing regulatory complexity, diverse payment preferences, and higher transaction failure rates affecting businesses of all sizes. Companies operating across multiple European markets need a solution that optimizes approval rates, reduces costs, and ensures seamless compliance.
Smart transaction routing – Directs payments to the most efficient PSP, increasing success rates.
Multi-PSP support – Provides flexibility and prevents reliance on a single provider.
Automated compliance – Ensures seamless adherence to PSD2, GDPR, and SEPA regulations.
Cost optimization – Reduces processing fees by dynamically selecting cost-effective payment options.
Enhanced fraud prevention – Uses AI-powered security to minimize risk and chargebacks.
As Europe moves toward real-time payments, Open Banking, and AI-driven fraud detection, businesses that fail to optimize their payment stack will fall behind. Payment orchestration is no longer optional—it’s essential for staying competitive.
Ready to streamline your payments and boost approval rates? Contact Gr4vy to book a demo today.
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