The five most important stories of the week, one argument, one number.
Two stories from 20 and 21 October 2026, one thesis, one number. Why producer prices and a supply halt already map out energy costs for 2027.
“If you want to know what the 2027 heating season will cost, don’t look at the inflation headline — look at producer prices, and at who is walking out on their customers right now.”
Five stories from 12 to 16 October 2026, one thesis, one number. From the passed EUDI wallet law to energy costs borne almost entirely by private owners.
“This week the range ran from a law already passed to a mere announcement — and for merchants, landlords and businesses the rule holds: you can only plan with the law that has a date, not with the headline.”
Five stories of the week from 5 to 9 October 2026, one thesis and one number. Mastercard makes offline payments mandatory, the Bundesbank puts a figure on payment fraud, and a survey shows how often customers run into “cash only”, while the new credit law and the digital euro push cost and contract questions to the front.
“This week was not about new payment methods but about whether the existing ones hold in the bad moment: during a network outage, during a fraud call and for the customer who can only pay by card at the till.”
Five stories of the week from 28 September to 2 October 2026, one thesis and one number. Three Wero stories show how far Europe’s payment network has come, the EHI report shows where customers already are today, and Shopify and Stripe pull checkout and credit deeper into their own platforms.
“This week Europe founded a payment network for 130 million people, but at the till it is not the biggest network that decides, it is the method the customer already has on their phone.”
Five stories of the week from 21 to 25 September 2026, one thesis and one number. Amazon locks out an AI agent, Shopify gives it its own payment rail, and two surveys show where the risk lands when nobody steers the payment method deliberately.
“This week showed that in payments it is not the method that wins but the rail beneath it — and whoever does not choose that rail themselves takes on someone else’s rules and someone else’s risk.”
Five stories of the week from 14 to 18 September 2026, one thesis and one number. Retail rejects mandatory card acceptance, while a fresh survey shows that customers have long taken it for granted at the till — and two European deadlines start running.
“This week retail declared that nobody needs mandatory card acceptance — and in the same week came the survey in which 72 per cent of customers want to pay by card in a restaurant as a matter of course. The argument has long since stopped being about the card and is about its price.”
Five stories of the week from 7 to 11 September 2026, one thesis and one number. Mandatory card acceptance has become a paper, the EUDI wallet has become a date — and growth in retail has become a smaller average ticket.
“In a single week Germany announced three European rails — a payment obligation including a European scheme, its own identity wallet, Wero at the terminal — and in the same week the ticket that is supposed to run on all of it got smaller.”
Five stories of the week from 31 August to 4 September 2026, one thesis and one number. For everyone who wants to be up to speed on payments and sales in five minutes.
“The most important number of the week appears in no press release: Visa and Mastercard are growing by nine per cent in Europe, girocard by 0.8 per cent, and the German merchant pays the difference.”