Recent regulatory developments focussing on payments. For other key regulatory developments of broad application, see our Financial institutions general regulatory news.

Contents

• Request to Pay: Pay.UK launches rules and standards framework
• PSD2: EBA opinion on obstacles to provision of third party provider services

Request to Pay: Pay.UK launches rules and standards framework

Pay.UK has launched the Request to Pay Framework — the message standards, rules, and terms and conditions for the development of Request to Pay services. The new framework can now be used by organisations to create the first Request to Pay propositions, "set to underpin a vibrant new market of payment messaging services".

Request to Pay is a secure messaging service framework launched on 29 May 2020. It is an overlay on top of existing payments infrastructure as a new flexible way to manage and settle bills between businesses and organisations as well as among friends. For each "request", the payer will be able to pay in full, pay in part, ask for more time or decline to pay and begin a dialogue with the requester. It gives more control to the person being asked to pay, but it also gives the biller all the information they will need to reconcile the payment when it arrives.

The Framework is intended to help FinTechs and payment service providers (PSPs) to develop their services that interoperate with each other to deliver Request to Pay to their customers. Over 400 organisations, ranging from start-ups to household name PSPs, took part in an open sandbox to refine the framework. It was then tested in a live pilot where the full range of messages and potential responses were successfully sent and received.

Further announcements will follow when sufficient capacity has been established. Developers can access the new framework and begin enrolment to provide Request to Pay services by registering here.

PSD2: EBA opinion on obstacles to provision of third party provider services

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published an opinion on obstacles to the provision of third party provider services (TPPs) under Article 32(c) of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) on strong customer authentication (SCA) and common and secure communication (CSC). In its opinion the EBA aims to support the objectives of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) of enabling customers to use new and innovative payment services offered by TPPs by addressing a number of issues regarding the interfaces provided by account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) to TPPs.

The opinion:

• clarifies when mandatory redirection is an obstacle to the provision of TPPs' services and the authentication procedures that ASPSPs' interfaces are required to support;
• clarifies a number of obstacles identified in the market, including requiring multiple SCAs, the manual entry of the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) in the ASPSPs' domain, or imposing additional checks of the consent given by the customer to the TPP; and
• explains that requiring re-authentication every 90 days for account information services in accordance with the RTS on SCA and CSC is not an obstacle.

The EBA expects national competent authorities to act as necessary to ensure compliance of the interfaces offered by ASPSPs with the PSD2 and the RTS. Where obstacles are identified, NCAs should ensure that ASPSPs remove them as quickly as possible. The EBA will monitor the way in which the clarifications provided in the opinion are taken into account, and will take remedial action where it identifies inconsistencies.

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