Giropay

 

Giropay was a German bank transfer payment method that enabled customers to pay directly from their bank account online, using their existing online banking credentials. Launched in 2006 and later merged with Paydirekt, it had approximately 45 million registered users at its peak, representing a significant share of the German online banking population.

Giropay was officially discontinued on 31 December 2024. The closure was driven by the decision of major German bank shareholders, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and the Sparkassen group, to redirect their investment toward the European Payments Initiative and its pan-European wallet, Wero. Some PSPs stopped processing Giropay transactions as early as June 2024. Any Giropay button still showing in a checkout is non-functional and should be removed.

For merchants who relied on Giropay for German bank transfer volume, the practical replacements for that use case are SEPA Direct Debit for recurring and pull-based collection, PayPal for instant checkout with bank funding options, and Wero, the EPI wallet now live in Germany for account-to-account payments. PayPal remains the dominant online payment method in Germany with around 28% of transaction share, and for merchants targeting German consumers it remains the single most important method to have in the checkout.

Wero is the structural successor to Giropay in terms of intent, backed by the same German banking institutions and built on instant SEPA payment rails. It launched in Germany in 2024 for P2P payments and is expanding into e-commerce. For merchants planning their German payment mix over the next two to three years, Wero is worth monitoring closely.

Relevant markets: Germany (historical, discontinued)