How does a RoPay payment work?
RoPay moves money straight from the shopper’s bank account to the merchant’s. On a phone, the shopper chooses RoPay at checkout and pays with their phone number or picks their bank, and the banking app opens with the payment ready to approve. On a computer, the checkout shows a QR code that the shopper scans with the banking app. The shopper approves in the app, without typing card details.
The scheme supports several ways to start a payment. Since it became operational on 14 October 2024 it has offered QR codes, deep links into banking apps, NFC and phone number aliases. Its rulebook defines four uses: payments between people, mobile payments in stores, online payments for e-commerce and m-commerce (use type “e”), and bills.
Payments settle almost at once. Under the rulebook (version 02, revision 02, dated 2 March 2026 and in force since 1 May 2026), a RoPay payment between banks is processed in CPI Lei, TRANSFOND’s instant payment system, in at most 10 seconds. An online RoPay payment can be up to RON 100,000.
Why does RoPay matter for merchants?
Cards carry only part of Romanian online spending. At the GPeC Summit on 13 October 2026, eMAG’s chief executive put card payments at about 35% of online payments across the market. RoPay gives shoppers who do not want to pay by card, or who would otherwise wait to pay on delivery, a way to pay in advance from their bank account.
The big names are moving to it. BRD made the first live online payments with RoPay on 18 December 2025. eMAG added RoPay with ING on 15 July 2026, when about 6.77 million people could already use it to pay online. On 24 August 2026 the payment gateway EuPlatesc connected directly to TRANSFOND’s infrastructure, which simplifies RoPay access for its merchants. The participants register of 10 September 2026 lists 11 participants.
It has scheme-level refunds and disputes. The rulebook defines a RoPay refund as the full or partial return of a successfully settled payment, sent as a payment order and processed in CPI Lei or within the bank. It also sets up a dispute mechanism, run with TRANSFOND, for disagreements about RoPay transactions, and participants must give their customers ways to raise disputes and tell merchants about disputes received. There is no card-style chargeback.
What can go wrong?
Conversion is still being worked out. eMAG’s chief executive said at the GPeC Summit that RoPay works for heavy e-commerce users but that its conversion in checkout flows still needs work. Shoppers who are new to it may abandon at the banking app step.
Not every bank is in yet. With 11 participants in September 2026, some shoppers’ banks may not support RoPay online payments, so the checkout needs another method next to it.
Large orders can hit limits. The scheme maximum for an online payment is RON 100,000, and the shopper’s own bank may apply lower limits.
Refunds need their own process. Because a RoPay refund is a separate payment order, the merchant needs the payment reference and a refund flow that checks the status before sending again, so the shopper is not paid twice.
How would Omno handle RoPay?
A merchant would offer RoPay in the hosted checkout or through Direct Links on its own checkout, showing a QR code on desktop and opening the banking app on mobile. Routing rules set by the merchant would send the payment to a provider connected to the scheme. In the hosted checkout, if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts. The order would stay pending until the provider reports a final status, and the result would reach the merchant by webhook, which is the source of truth for confirming an order. The routing-decision log would record which provider handled each step.