European Trade Group Delivers Framework Overview for Pan-European Payments

A European trade group submitted an overview of its framework proposal for pan-European retail payments at any point of interaction (POI) that would help facilitate interoperability and competition.

The overview of the European Retail Payments Framework (ERPF) was delivered to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission (EC) by the European Third Party Providers Association (ETPPA) in response to their retail payments strategy.

It proposes to align the interests of banks and FinTechs with little assistance from European officials and use existing building blocks for instant retail payments instead of trying to introduce a single new solution to the market, according to a Thursday (Sept. 29) press release.

See also: ECB Official Touts Public-Private Cooperation in Payments Digitization

Through collaboration, banks and FinTechs can combine open banking and instant payments technologies to regain European sovereignty over retail payments and develop a blueprint for the rest of the world to follow.

The ETPPA said its framework is accessible to the majority of people in the EU and its member states and “challenges the cards and wallets from the East and the West with superior technology.”

It also takes advantage of the investments made by the entire payments industry into open banking and the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), according to the release.

The association’s ERPF proposal is based on the existing SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme, adheres to current regulations and doesn’t require any additional scheme or governance.

Read more: ECB’s Panetta: Wholesale CBDC Infrastructure Should Evolve to Meet Needs

When asking for input, the ECB’s Governing Council outlined five key objectives concerning pan-European reach and customer experience; convenience and cost-efficiency; safety and security; European identity and governance; and global acceptance as a long-term goal, according to the release.

The ETPPA said its framework meets all of the ECB’s objectives and will have “unprecedented EU-wide customer reach from day one.”

The ETPPA represents TPPs that operate independently of banks under PSD2 and beyond. The group represents TPPs interests vis-à-vis the EU authorities and across various groups to support a competitive level playing field for account information service providers (AISPs) and payment initiation service providers (PISPs).