Finance
Digital euro to cost EU banks 4-6 billion euros over 4 years, ECB estimates
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 19, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 19, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 19, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 19, 2026
ECB’s Piero Cipollone says EU banks may spend €4–6bn over four years to implement the digital euro. Setup is €1.3bn with about €300m operations. Banks recoup via merchant fees; caps aim to undercut Visa/Mastercard. Launch eyed for 2029.
By Valentina Za
MILAN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Introducing the digital euro could cost European banks between 4 billion and 6 billion euros ($4.7-$7.1 billion) spread over four years, a senior European Central Bank policymaker said on Thursday.
ECB Governing Council member Piero Cipollone also said the new digital‑only central bank currency which the ECB is working on is estimated to cost around 1.3 billion euros to set up.
Operational costs would then be about 300 million euros, he added, without specifying whether this figure refers to an annual amount.
The ECB is awaiting European Union legislation to issue the digital euro, which it sees as a way to keep public money relevant in a digital economy, unify Europe's fragmented payments landscape and curb the role of non-EU providers to protect the bloc's monetary sovereignty and economic security.
BANKS WILL BE ABLE TO RECOUP COSTS, CIPOLLONE SAYS
"Estimates we've come up with based on indications we received from banks point to implementation costs of between 4 and 6 billion (euros) over four years: that is about 3% of what they spend every year on IT‑system maintenance," Cipollone said.
He was speaking to an Italian parliamentary committee on banks on the digital euro project, which he oversees under his payments remit at the ECB.
Banks will be able to make up the costs through the fees they receive from merchants on the digital euro services they will provide.
It will be banks that give users the smartphone application needed to pay with digital euros.
Banks, however, won't have to deduct from the merchants' fees the costs they normally bear to remunerate private payments networks because the ECB won't charge for its network service.
The ECB is currently at work to select lenders that are interested in taking part in the pilot phase of the digital euro ahead of its official launch in 2029.
Merchants, in turn, will save money because there will be a cap on the fees charged on digital euro payments and the cap will be below what international firms such as Mastercard or Visa charge at present.
($1 = 0.8488 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by David Holmes)
The ECB’s Piero Cipollone outlines the expected costs and rollout path for the digital euro, including what EU banks and merchants might pay and how fees will be structured.
EU banks are expected to invest €4–6 billion over four years to adapt systems and offer digital euro services, roughly 3% of annual IT maintenance budgets.
The ECB is targeting 2029 for a potential launch, contingent on EU legislation and pilot testing with selected payment service providers.
Banks can earn from merchant fees on digital euro services, while the ECB won’t charge network fees. Merchants should benefit from capped fees below Visa/Mastercard levels.
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