- Question ID
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2021_6256
- Legal act
- Directive 2015/2366/EU (PSD2)
- Topic
- Other topics
- Article
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97
- COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs/Recommendations
- Regulation (EU) 2018/389 - RTS on strong customer authentication and secure communication
- Article/Paragraph
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32
- Type of submitter
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Other
- Subject matter
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Payee-initiated transactions with irregular period or variable amounts for account payments.
- Question
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Please clarify whether payee-initiated account transactions available in Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs)’ online banking channels are considered discriminatory under PSD2 when not available in the PSD2 Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
- Background on the question
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Referring to the background for Q&A 4131 and its resulting answer, we would like a clarification on whether ASPSPs have a duty to support payee-initiated-transactions based on an agreement between Merchant and PSU. Most ASPSP does not provide such functionality in their PSD2 APIs, although the functionality is available in their online banking channels packaged as products.
When ASPSPs provide support for the functionality to set up agreements between a PSU and merchant where variable amounts can be deducted by payee directly without PSU active interaction from their accounts. According to Q&A 4131, it is clearly stated that:
"Payments that are based on a (standing) agreement between a customer and a merchant, according to which the customer authorizes the merchant to initiate subsequent transactions in relation to the agreed delivery of goods or services can be considered as payee initiated transactions, provided that these payments are not dependent on a specific action of the payer to trigger the initiation of the payment by the payee."
Most ASPSPs have support for such a setup where the PSU enter into an agreement with a merchant and the merchant can debit their account up to a certain amount within certain time intervals. The initial debit authorization is made in the online banking channels, and the amount limits can be adjusted in the online banking channels. This is for all intents and purposes payee-initiated transactions that exists in the online banking channels of the banks, but not in the PSD2 APIs. This kind of arrangement is typically organized in national payment products but is as such a supported functionality for the payment accounts and should therefore also be available in the PSD2 APIs without TPPs having to use the product the functionality is packaged into.
These products are typically built up and organized in third party companies that are or were originally owned by the banks themselves.
It is unclaar whether an ASPSP also equally obligated to provide such functionality (not packaged as products) for payee-initiated payments through their PSD2 APIs.
- Submission date
- Final publishing date
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- Final answer
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Article 4, point (15), of Directive 2015/2366/EU (PSD2) defines a payment initiation service (PIS) as a service to initiate a payment order at the request of the payment service user (PSU) with respect to a payment account held at another payment service provider (PSP). Article 4, point (10) PSD2 defines ‘payment service user’ as a natural or legal person making use of a payment service in the capacity of payer, payee, or both.
The payer’s right to make use of PISs, provided that the payer’s payment account is accessible online, is explicitly laid down in Article 66(1) of PSD2, together with several obligations for account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) and payment initiation service providers (PISPs) to ensure the payer’s right to use such services (Article 66, points (3) and (4) of PSD2).
However, there is no equivalent provision in PSD2 that guarantees the right of the payee to make use of PISs for payee-initiated transactions. As a consequence, PSD2 neither excludes that payees may make use of PISs for their payee-initiated account transactions, nor guarantees a right for payees to make use of such PISs.
PSD2 dates back to 2015. Since then, the initiation of payments has significantly developed in a way that was not anticipated by the co-legislators in 2015.
The issue of whether the provision of PISs extends also to payee-initiated transactions is not addressed by the PSD2. It can therefore not be concluded that payee-initiated transactions which are available in ASPSPs’ direct online banking channels also have to be made available to third party providers through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Disclaimer: The answers clarify provisions already contained in the applicable legislation. They do not extend in any way the rights and obligations deriving from such legislation nor do they introduce any additional requirements for the concerned operators and competent authorities. The answers are merely intended to assist natural or legal persons, including competent authorities and Union institutions and bodies in clarifying the application or implementation of the relevant legal provisions. Only the Court of Justice of the European Union is competent to authoritatively interpret Union law. The views expressed in the internal Commission Decision cannot prejudge the position that the European Commission might take before the Union and national courts.
- Status
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Final Q&A
- Answer prepared by
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Answer prepared by the European Commission because it is a matter of interpretation of Union law.
Disclaimer
The Q&A refers to the provisions in force on the day of their publication. The EBA does not systematically review published Q&As following the amendment of legislative acts. Users of the Q&A tool should therefore check the date of publication of the Q&A and whether the provisions referred to in the answer remain the same.