The EU is quietly killing the 2.8% card fee. Most founders haven't noticed.
Three regulations just turned bank rails into a real checkout option, by law, not by hack.
The big one's already live: since Oct 2025, EU banks must send instant euro transfers in ~10 seconds, 24/7. And they legally can't charge more for them than a normal transfer. That's the whole reason pay-by-bank can undercut cards now. Fraud check (name-matches-IBAN) is built in too.
PSD3 + PSR land 2027 to 2028 and force bank APIs to actually work instead of nudging everyone back to cards.
The math is the point. €2m volume, €40 basket:
Cards ~2.8% → ~€56k/yr
Flat 1% + €0.25 → ~€32.5k/yr
~€23k saved for changing nothing but how money arrives.
Disclosure: I build in this space (Zahlo). But the takeaway isn't "use my thing," it's that if you've been filing 2.8% under "fixed cost," that label has an expiry date.
Anyone taking EU/UK payments actually offering pay-by-bank yet? How's conversion vs cards?
This is a strong wedge because the argument is not “payments should be cheaper” in a vague way. It is a timing shift in the rails themselves. If instant bank transfers become legally reliable, cheaper, and familiar enough for checkout, then card fees stop looking like a permanent tax and start looking like a legacy default.
The positioning I would keep pushing is the CFO/operator angle: not just payment innovation, but margin recovery on every transaction. That makes the pain very easy for founders to understand.
One thing I’d pressure-test early is the brand frame. Zahlo is short and clean, but if this becomes a serious pay-by-bank checkout layer for EU/UK merchants, the brand has to carry trust, financial infrastructure, and conversion confidence. This is not just a feature; it is a money-movement layer.
Beryxa .com would fit that direction well because it feels more like a serious commerce/finance intelligence brand, with room for checkout, bank rails, fee reduction, risk checks, and merchant payment infrastructure under one stronger shell.