Publications and events

ECB consultation on security requirements for payment account access services (deadline: April 12, 2013)

Yesterday, the European Central Bank released a draft version of the Recommendations for payment account access services for public consultation. These recommendations were developed by the European Forum on the Security of Retail Payments, SecuRe Pay (the “Forum”). In the Forum all the EU supervisors work together with the aim to foster the establishment of a harmonised EU/EEA-wide minimum level of security.

The draft report lists a number of Recommendations which seek to ensure that the Third Party Providers of Payment Account Access Services and the involved Governance Authorities (scheme owners) meet the following requirements: …

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SecuRe Pay releases final recommendations on the security of internet payments

Today, the ECB released a comprehensive set of Recommendations for the security of internet payments, following a two-month public consultation carried out in 2012. The Recommendations represent the first achievement of the European Forum on the Security of Retail Payments (SecuRe Pay), a voluntary cooperative initiative between relevant authorities from the European Economic Area (EEA) – supervisors of payment service providers and overseers in particular.

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EMA response to HMT consultation: Setting the strategy for UK payments

In July 2012, HM Treasury published the document: Setting the strategy for UK Payments as part of a consultation on the best models for the strategy development of the payment industry. The document outlined three options:

  1. improve the functioning of the existing Payments Council,
  2. introduce a new public body to set strategy across the UK payments industry: the Payments Strategy Board,
  3. introduce a utility type statutory regulator for the payments industry.

The EMA response to the consultation outlined that the representation of innovative payment service providers can be improved considerably. …

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ECB Consultation on security of internet payments (deadline: June 20, 2012)

The European Central Bank (ECB) is consulting on standards to increase the security of internet payments in the European Union. It has drafted recommendations that developed by the European Forum on the Security of Retail Payments, SecuRe Pay. This Forum of regulators and supervisors was set up in 2011 as a voluntary cooperative initiative between authorities.

The report outlines security recommendations and best practices such as the principle of strong authentication.  …

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EMA response to the EC Green Paper: ‘Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments’.

In January, the European Commission started a stakeholder consultation on the future of the European payments market by issuing the Green Paper: ‘Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments’. It sought responses to a series of questions with respect to card payments, interchange fees, SEPA, standardisation, interoperability and payments security.

The EMA response to the Green paper stresses that the EMA is not in favour of regulatory intervention with respect to interchange fees. Regarding possible access to the bank account by third party payment service providers, the EMA recognises that it would enable significant innovation by third party providers and the offering of added value services. …

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EC Consultation: Green paper on EU market for card, internet and mobile payments (deadline April 11, 2012)

In January 2012, the EU Commission started a consultation on the Green Paper – Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments. The purpose is to collect information from all interested stakeholders on the existing situation of the card, internet and mobile payments market and the potential hurdles for integration at European level in these markets.

The consultation includes 32 questions to the stakeholders, which cover areas such as:

  • regulation of the multilateral interchange fee for four  party card schemes
  • card scheme rules on cross-border acquiring, co-badging, surcharging and scheme-governance,
  • standardisation, interoperability and security requirements for payments,
  • governance of the SEPA-activities in Europa.

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EMA conference 2011: The evolution of e-money and payment institutions; new opportunities, new challenges.

We organised this conference on 29 and 30 November 2011 at the Crowne Plaza, Brussels ‘Le palace’.

Crowne Plaza, Brussels 'Le palace'
Crowne Plaza, Brussels ‘Le palace’

The conference focused on how e-money and payment institutions are changing and the new opportunities for industry and challenges for regulations that this creates.

What did the conference address?

The conference reviewed the evolution of e-money and alternative payment products over the last few years and invited issuers and payment service providers to describe developments that are likely to emerge. The EU regulatory model was compared to that of the US, Japan, Australia and the recently adopted Russian legislation.

We addressed topics that are currently the focus of regulatory discussion, such as the review of AML legislation, the outsourced business model, the use of agents and distributors, as well as passporting.

The conference brought together the industry and regulators with an interest in Emoney and innovative payments to discuss developments and shared challenges.

Speakers included:

  • Alex Hoffman, PayPal France
  • Ben Steyn, Skrill
  • Caroline Gardner, FCA
  • Des Hellicar-Bowman, Vincento
  • Fabienne Weibel, PayPal
  • Jane Zavalishina, Yandex Money LLC
  • Javier Martell, Boku Inc
  • John Burns, FCA
  • John Plank, National Crime Agency
  • Mahmed Yurtcicek, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey
  • Mark Watkins, Voicecash
  • Michael Muller, PaysafeCard
  • Mike Smith, Raphaels Bank
  • Paul Townsend, WorldPay (Envoy Services)
  • Peter Howitt, Transact Network Limited
  • Philippe Pelle, European Commission
  • Ray Brush, PrePay Solutions
  • Dr Rhys Bollen, Australian Securities & Investments Commission
  • Shri G Padmanabhan, Reserve Bank of India
  • Stan Rubin, Ukash
  • Taiji Inui, NTT Data Corporation, Bank of Japan
  • Tobias Mackie, European Commission
  • Tobias Shreyer, PPRO GmbH

A printable version of the conference programme can be downloaded as a .pdf file (421.30Kb)

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