⚡️The European Parliament moves forward with payment services reforms

⚡️The European Parliament moves forward with payment services reforms

Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs have approved a new regulation affecting payment services and electronic money. The regulation affects the activities of banks, post offices, and other relevant institutions.

🔣 The primary aim is to fortify authentication procedures and make the verification of unique identifiers, (such as the IBAN) free of charge for customers during credit transfers. Payment service providers (PSPs) failing to implement adequate fraud prevention mechanisms will be obligated to compensate customers for losses resulting from fraudulent activities.

🔣 Technical service and IT solutions providers could face liability for damages caused by failures within their contractual scope, and online platforms can be held responsible for fraudulent content that was not removed on time.

🔣 The processing of personal data for payment services should only be performed with the customer's consent. Customers should be able to refuse data sharing with third parties for both existing and future requests, or cease access to their data through a special control panel.

🔣 Customers must receive comprehensive information about all associated costs before initiating a payment operation, presented in a transparent and easily accessible manner.

🔣 In order to enhance cash accessibility (especially in rural areas), retail stores offer cash withdrawals independently from purchases up to 100 euros, will be exempt from certain regulatory requirements. Similarly, ATMs intended solely for cash withdrawals without serving payment accounts, will undergo a simplified registration process.

🔣 Notably, members of the European Parliament support the entry of new players into the EU payment services sector. To facilitate this, certain legal definitions, including that of a "payment account," have been revised.

Organizations wishing to provide payment services are required to:

✅ submit an application to obtain a permit, including a detailed business plan.

✅ submit a description of security, data protection, and management mechanisms.

✅ the minimum initial capital requirements vary from 50,000 to 350,000 euros, depending on the services provided.

#Europe #news