EU trade associations agree on SCA transition

Several European associations representing banks and third party providers (TPPs) have released a joint statement agreeing on joint efforts regarding the transition to EU new payment rules.

Responding to recent updates from EU authorities regarding the 14 September deadline for the revised payments services directive (PSD2), the European Credit Sector Associations (ECSAs) and TPP associations have pledged to improve their interactions regarding the implementation of the new standards.

The European Banking Federation (EBF), European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB) and the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG) - known collectively as the ECSAs - have joined up with the European Third Party Providers Association (ETPPA) and the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) to “reasserted their full commitment to the objectives of PSD2 which will create a more secure, innovative and competitive payments landscape with stronger consumer protection”.

On 10 July, the European Commission organised a joint workshop at which staff from European Banking Association were present as observers. “Arguments were exchanged by ASPSPs and TPPs,” according to the statement, and “it was agreed that a small task force would endeavour to draw up a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ that might possibly address some of the issues”.

The parties agreed to call upon the TPP’s representative associations to call upon their memberships to intensify testing the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that are currently available in developer portals and provide relevant feedback.

Both parties also called on the National Competent Authorities to use the possibilities given to them within the law to the maximum extent possible to help avoid unintended customer detriment.

They also agreed to call upon the relevant authorities to consider urgently the legal possibilities to solve the unintended consequences of 90-day Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) renewal, taking into account other stakeholder’s views.

Ralf Ohlhausen, executive advisor at PPRO and vice chairman of ETPPA, said: "I am really glad we managed to strengthen the dialogue between ourselves and the banks, and were able to agree some very important points.

“In particular, the joint understanding that the regulators in each country are now playing the key role and that altogether we must ensure that contingency measures are in place to avoid any customer detriments come 14 September.”

Last month, the Financial Conduct Authority responded to the EBA opinion on SCA, agreeing that some firms will be given extra time to implement the rules.

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