|
|
It will also enable the Commission to decide on whether EU coordinated action and/or policy measures are warranted in order to ensure that a critical mass of EU payment service providers (PSPs) offer instant credit transfers. This targeted consultation also seeks to identify factors that would be relevant for fostering customer demand towards instant credit transfer services.
The present consultation will inform the Commission on remaining obstacles as well as possible enabling actions that it could take to ensure a wide availability and use of instant payments in the EU. It will also enable the Commission to decide on whether EU coordinated action and/or policy measures are warranted in order to ensure that a critical mass of EU PSPs offer instant credit transfers. The consultation also seeks to identify factors that would be relevant for fostering customer demand towards instant credit transfers.
For an instant credit transfer to be successfully completed, at each end of the transfer there needs to be a Payment Services Provider (PSP) adhering to the same set of rules, practices and standards for the execution of that transfer (a single ‘scheme’). For euro instant credit transfers within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) such a scheme was developed in 2017 by the European Payments Council (the ‘SCT Inst. Scheme’). A broad level of participation by PSPs in the scheme is a key precondition for the wide availability of euro instant payments at EU level. As of March 2021, just over 64% of PSPs located in 21 Member States had joined the SCT Inst. Scheme. Similar schemes also exist in some non euro area Member States for instant credit transfers in their local currency.
Instant credit transfers can be conveniently used in a variety of situations such as purchases in physical shops and online (so called ‘point of interaction’ with merchants), or person-to-person payments, such as splitting a restaurant bill. This requires the instant credit transfer to be combined with a ‘front-end’ solution, such as one based on mobile phone applications, e-invoices, standardised messages requesting payments etc.
The consultation aims at identifying the concerns that would need to be addressed to incentivise EU payments market players to offer innovative, convenient, safe and cost-efficient pan-European payment solutions based on instant credit transfers. At the same time, it would help establish what features and safeguards would enable the users to reap the benefits of instant payments to the fullest.....