Adyen
Amsterdam-based, publicly-listed (Euronext Amsterdam) payments company built full-stack: Adyen owns and operates its entire payment infrastructure on its own data centres, and European card data is kept in Europe. A single platform for online, in-app and in-person payments used by large enterprises. PCI DSS Level 1 certified and independently audited as a licensed European bank.
Quick facts
Owns its entire payment stack on its own European data centres, licensed as a bank, and used by major global enterprises.
It's built for large-scale enterprise merchants rather than small businesses, so pricing and onboarding aren't really aimed at a solo shop owner.
Why does it score 86?
Incorporated in Amsterdam, Netherlands – a full EU member state.
Publicly traded on Euronext Amsterdam with no controlling non-EU parent, though as a listed company it isn't scored as fully independent.
Adyen owns and operates its entire payment stack on its own data centres, with European card data kept in Europe.
GDPR-compliant, PCI DSS Level 1 certified and independently audited as a licensed European bank – about as accountable as a payments company gets.
See how they compare
Adyen
Paypal 
Stripe 
Square More European Payments & banking alternatives
German neobank with a full banking licence from BaFin, operating across 23 European countries. Founded in Berlin in 2013, converted to a pan-European Societas Europaea (SE) in January 2025, and fully focused on Europe after exiting the US in 2021.
Dutch mobile bank focused on sustainability. Plant trees with every payment. Full EU banking licence, no hidden fees.
Dutch payment processor trusted by 250,000+ European businesses. Founded in 2004 by Adriaan Mol who remains CEO and majority shareholder. Supports iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA and all major European payment methods.
London-founded neobank for spending, transfers and FX. Its EU business runs through Revolut Bank UAB, licensed in Lithuania and supervised by the ECB, so EU customers bank under EU law – but the group is headquartered in the UK (outside the EU) and runs on AWS rather than its own infrastructure.
UK-founded money transfer service with transparent fees and real exchange rates. EU-licensed through Wise Europe SA.
UK digital bank, cloud-native on AWS since day one and regulated by the FCA/PRA. Caveat: it is UK-only, with no EU entity or EU banking licence, and post-Brexit both the bank and its AWS hosting sit under UK jurisdiction rather than the EU.