Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added(7a) The European Central Bank (ECB) and national central banks, when not acting in their capacity as monetary authorities or other public authorities, should be able to limit their offer to PSUs of a payment service of sending instant credit transfers in euro to the period during which the ECB and national central banks receive and send non-instant credit transfers in euro, where such limitation is necessary to ensure compliance with Article 123 TFEU.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 5c – paragraph 4: 4. PSPs shall inform their PSUs that authorising a transaction despite a detected and notified discrepancy or opting out from receiving the service referred to in paragraph 1 may lead to transferring the funds to a payment account not held by the payee indicated by the payer. PSPs shall provide that information at the same time as the notification of discrepancies referred to in paragraph 1 or when PSU opts out from receiving the service referred to in that paragraph. PSPs that have fulfilled the requirements of this paragraph shall not be held liable for the execution of a transaction to an unintended payee, as laid down in Article 88 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366. PSPs shall inform PSUs about the implications for PSP liability and PSU refund rights resulting from their decision to ignore a notified discrepancy.

Added(8) There is a variety of interfaces through which PSUs can place a payment order for a credit transfer in euro, including via online banking, a mobile application, an automated teller machine, a self-service terminal, in a branch, or by phone. To ensure that all PSUs have access to instant credit transfers in euro, there should be no difference in terms of the interfaces that offer PSUs the possibility to place payment orders for instant and other types of credit transfer transactions. Moreover, where it is possible for a PSU to submit to a PSP payment orders for credit transfers packaged together, that same possibility should also be available with respect to instant credit transfers in euro. PSPs should be able to offer all credit transfers in euro initiated by their PSUs as instant by default.

RemovedAmendment addresses concerns about the liability of PSPs and the communication between PSPs and PSUs in cases of possible discrepancies with payee name & IBAN

Added(8a) Since some payment initiation channels, such as bank retail locations, are not available all the time, the time of receipt of a paper-based payment order should be considered to take place at the moment when the payment order is inserted into the internal system of the payer’s PSP, which should occur as soon as such payment initiation channels are available.

RemovedRegulation (EU) No 260/2012

Added(8b) Where a PSU submits a package of multiple payment orders for instant credit transfers to its PSP, that PSP should immediately start to unpack that package so as to turn it into individual instant credit transfer transactions. The time of receipt of a payment order submitted in a package of multiple payment orders should be the moment when the ensuing individual payment transaction has been unpacked. The payer’s PSP should immediately transmit the individual instant credit transfer transactions either simultaneously or in sequence. That transmission should occur without prejudice to possible solutions to be provided by retail payment systems which allow for the conversion of packages of multiple payment orders for instant credit transfers into individual instant payment transactions.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 5d – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: PSPs offering instant credit transfers shall verify whether any of their PSUs are listed persons or entities.

Added(8c) Where a payment order for an instant credit transfer in euro is submitted from a payment account that is not denominated in euro, the time of receipt should be the moment when the PSP, immediately upon receiving that payment order, converts into euro the amount of the transaction from the currency in which the payment account is denominated.

RemovedThere is a subtle difference between PSPs that offer and PSPs that execute instant credit transfers. In fact, we want all of them included in the scope of this legislation. "PSPs offering" is more inclusive.

Added(9) Payment institutions and electronic money institutions should contribute to facilitating the uptake of instant credit transfers in euro. It is therefore appropriate to allow those institutions to participate in a payment system designated in accordance with Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, thus enabling them to access settlement systems and to offer the service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro.

RemovedRegulation (EU) No 260/2012

Added(10) PSUs are very sensitive to the level of charges for substitutable payment methods. The level of charges can therefore steer them towards or away from a given payment method. In those national markets where higher transaction-level charges for instant credit transfers in euro compared to charges for other types of credit transfers in euro have been applied, the uptake of instant credit transfers is low. That has prevented the attainment of the critical mass of instant credit transfers in euro that is necessary to realise the full network effects for PSPs and PSUs alike. All types of charges applied to payers and payees for the execution of instant credit transfers in euro, including per transaction charges or lump sum charges, should therefore not exceed such charges applied to the same PSU for corresponding types of other credit transfers in euro. It is essential to guarantee, through a proper supervision framework, that PSPs do not increase the charges for the corresponding types of other credit transfers in euro with the aim of circumventing that requirement. When identifying corresponding types of credit transfers, it should be possible to use criteria including the PSU interface or the payment instrument used to initiate the payment, customer status and, where relevant, whether the payment is national or cross-border.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 11 – paragraph 1a – subparagraph 1: By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Member States shall by … [PO please insert the date = 4 months after the date of entry into force of this Regulation] lay down rules on the penalties applicable to infringements of Articles 5a to 5d and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. Such penalties shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. No penalty shall be applied in respect of Article 5a(2), point (c), where the payment accounts maintained by PSPs are not reachable for instant credit transfers due to a planned downtime of all SEPA instant credit transfer (SCT Inst) scheme-based payment services.

Added(10a) As an additional safeguard against fraud, PSPs should allow PSUs the possibility of setting a maximum amount for instant credit transfers in euro. Payers’ PSPs should not execute instant credit transfers where a payment order exceeds that maximum amount. PSUs should be able to modify the maximum amount at any time prior to the initiation of an instant credit transfer.

RemovedThis amendment is meant to give reassurance to PSPs that in the case of a planned downtime they will not be liable for instant payments that are not technically possible during that window.

Added(11) Security of ▌credit transfers in euro, both regular and instant, is fundamental for increasing PSUs’ confidence in such services and ensuring their use. Therefore, PSPs should have in place robust and up-to-date fraud detection and prevention measures, with a certain degree of flexibility in defining the measures that are most suitable to deal with new challenges. Payers intending to send a credit transfer to a given payee may, as a result of fraud or error, provide a payment account identifier which does not correspond to an account held by that payee. Under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the only determinant of the correct execution of the transaction with respect to the payee is the unique identifier, and PSPs are not required to verify the name of the payee. Both for regular and instant credit transfers, in case of fraud or error, it may not be possible for the payer to recover the funds before they are credited to the payee’s account. PSPs operating in the Union should therefore, without charging the PSUs any additional charges or fees, provide a service to verify whether there is any discrepancy between the payment account identifier of the payee and the name of the payee provided by the payer. Where the PSP allows the payer to place a payment order for an instant credit transfer by providing the payment account identifier and other data elements allowing to unambiguously identify the payee, such as a fiscal number, European unique identifiers (EUID) or legal entity identifiers (LEIs), PSPs should be able to perform the verification service based on such other data elements. The payer’s PSP should notify the payer placing a payment order for a credit transfer in euro about any such discrepancies detected by the payee’s PSP. To avoid undue frictions or delays in the processing of the transaction instantly, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification within no more than a few seconds from the moment the payer provided the payee information. To allow the payer to decide whether to proceed with the intended transaction, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification before the payer authorises the transaction.