Beyond Borders: Lasma Kuhtarska’s Latvian Perspective on a Unified European Payments Landscape

Co-founded by Lasma Kuhtarska in 2018, Noda is one of the leading open banking platforms that enables merchants to accept payments online and receive direct bank payments instantly, with no chargebacks. As its co-founder, Kuhtarska focuses on shaping and executing the platform’s strategic vision. Today, Noda partners with 2,000+ banks across 28 countries, spanning over 30,000 bank branches.

Latvian Lasma Kuhtarska Explains the Benefits of EPI

The vision of EPI is to establish a pan-European payment system that offers consumers and merchants a uniform, instant, cheap, and secure payment method for both in-store and online transactions, across all EU member states. People in Belgium, France and Germany can already use Wero, the product created as part of the EPI project to send and receive money seamlessly. Here are a few benefits of EPI.

For citizens: “The EPI promises an end to the payment maze. For instance, a shopper from Lisbon could use their digital wallet to pay instantly at a Berlin café or on a Latvian e-commerce site, with full transparency on costs and exchange rates, and the certainty of immediate settlement. It aims to rival the convenience of global card schemes while being inherently European – ensuring that transaction data and fee revenues remain within the EU’s regulatory and economic sphere,” says Lasma Kuhtarska, co-founder of Noda.

For businesses: On the importance of EPI for small businesses, Kuhtarska informs, “A unified scheme drastically simplifies payment acceptance, reduces the complexity and cost of managing multiple payment service providers, and guarantees fast settlement. This enhances cash flow and reduces friction in cross-border trade, a core tenet of the single market.”

For European sovereignty: The European payments market is currently dominated by non-European players (Visa, Mastercard) and, increasingly, by large global tech companies. This dependence raises concerns about regulatory oversight, data sovereignty, and the leakage of transaction fee revenue outside Europe. “EPI represents a strategic bid to reclaim control over a critical piece of digital infrastructure, aligning with broader EU goals of technological autonomy,” shares Kuhtarska.

Noda co-founder Lasma Kuhtarska’s Views on Challenges Facing Implementation of EPI 

The adoption conundrum: When it comes to the European Payments Initiative, merchants will only adopt it if consumers use it, and consumers will only adopt it if it is widely accepted by merchants. “Breaking this initial inertia requires a monumental coordinated effort. Convincing millions of consumers to change deeply ingrained payment habits – often satisfied by existing global cards or popular national solutions – is an enormous task,” confides Kuhtarska.

Institutional fragmentation: “The European financial landscape is diverse. EPI must onboard a critical mass of banks, payment institutions, and other stakeholders from 27 different countries, each with its own competitive dynamics, legacy systems, and commercial interests. Major banks may see EPI as a threat to their own profitable payment services or card offerings. This is another important challenge that must be addressed,” says Noda’s co-founder Lasma Kuhtarska.

Technological and operational integration: “Building a system that is interoperable with countless existing banking back-ends, point-of-sale systems, and e-commerce platforms across Europe is a huge task. It must meet the highest standards of security, resilience, and instant processing while being cost-effective to run,” informs Latvian Lasma Kuhtarska.

The European Payments Initiative is more than a technical project; it is a stress test for the very idea of an integrated, digitally sovereign Europe. Its challenges are a microcosm of the EU’s broader struggles: balancing national interests with collective ambition, overcoming market fragmentation, and asserting global relevance in a digital age dominated by foreign giants. And the potential rewards are immense. “Success would mean a tangible, daily improvement in the lives of Europeans, a boost to the single market, and a strengthening of the EU’s economic and digital resilience,” opines Latvian Lasma Kuhtarska.