Paydirekt is a collaborative mobile and online payments project of the main German banks, including Commerzbank, comdirect, Deutsche Bank, HypoVereinsbank, Postbank, and the Sparkassen financing group. It was launched in 2015 and integrated the Giropay online payment system.

It is known that the banks would drop both Giropay and Paydirekt during this week's shareholder meeting.

A representative verified to the regional publication Finanz-szene that "shareholders are currently coordinating on the future of Giropay and Paydirekt GmbH as an operating company."

The announcement of the decision to discontinue Paydirekt coincides with the release of Wero, the bank-backed EPI's payment wallet.

The EPI, which was initially supported by 31 major Eurozone banks and the acquirers Worldline and Nets, set out to create a digital wallet and a unified pan-European payment system. Initially, the system was to support instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments between accounts, and it was to be followed by online and mobile shopping payments and point-of-sale payments.

Deutsche Bank is still a shareholder in the project even though Commerzbank and DZ Bank withdrew. The launch strategy is for deployment in Belgium, France, and Germany, followed by the Netherlands.

Paydirekt stockholders and industry observers are said to have thought that Wero's eventual debut would have further damaged the company, which hasn't been able to get enough traction in the cash-conscious German market.