Parliament and Council negotiators have reached an agreement on the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and the Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), aiming to harmonise payment services across the European Union and strengthen protections against fraud.
The legislation applies to banks, post-office giro and payment institutions, technical service providers supporting payment services, and, in certain cases, electronic communications providers and online platforms.
It also seeks to ensure fair competition among payment service providers and improve access to cash, particularly in remote areas.
Under the new rules, payment service providers (PSPs) will be liable for customers’ losses if appropriate fraud prevention measures are not implemented.
PSPs must verify that payees’ names and unique identifiers match and refuse payments in cases of discrepancy, while ensuring strong customer authentication and conducting risk assessments.
PSPs must offer spending limits and blocking measures. If fraudsters initiate or alter a transaction, PSPs are liable for the full amount, and receiving PSPs must freeze suspicious payments.
PSPs must refund customers in cases of impersonation fraud once the customer reports the incident to the authorities.
Online platforms are liable to PSPs that have reimbursed customers if they fail to remove fraudulent content.
The legislation also requires transparency on all charges, including currency conversion and cash withdrawal fees, and ensures access to human customer support.
Retailers will be able to provide cash withdrawals of between €100 and €150 without a purchase.
Open banking services will benefit from reduced market barriers, non-discriminatory access to payment account data, and simplified authorisation procedures.
All PSPs must participate in alternative dispute resolution procedures if chosen by a consumer.
René Repasi, rapporteur for the regulation, said:
“Consumers will benefit from new harmonised rules on the payment services regulation. Mandatory fraud preventive measures will be applied and lead to less payment fraud. Banks have to share more of the burden if they fail to do their part.”
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