- 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 EBA Q&A 2018_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 the Q&A 2018_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.
Examples of such products include Avtalegiro and eFaktura in Norway, Bankgirot/Plussgirot in Sweden and similar payment methods throughout Europe. These products are typically built up and organized in third party companies that are or were originally owned by the banks themselves.
Is an ASPSP also equally obligated to provide such functionality (not packaged as products) for payee-initiated payments through their PSD2 APIs?
- Submission date
- Status
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Question under review
- Answer prepared by
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Answer prepared by the European Commission because it is a matter of interpretation of Union law.