A consortium of banks and payment processors raised $36.5 million in seed money a year ago to explore creation of a card network competitor to Visa and Mastercard in the European Union. The effort had the backing of the European Central Bank. However, the European Payments Initiative, which has yet to achieve operating company status, will drop plans for a payment card network. EPI recently lost 20 financial institutions, mostly in Spain and Germany. The remaining 13 members, mostly based in France, will pursue creation of a digital wallet consumers can use to initiate real-time account-...