Preamble

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (2), Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3), Whereas: (1) Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) provides the foundation for the single euro payments area (SEPA). To create favourable conditions for increased competition, in particular for payments at the point of interaction (POI), the SEPA project should be continuously updated to reflect innovation and market developments in payments, promote the development of new Union-wide payment products, and facilitate access for new market entrants. (2) In 2017, a Union-wide scheme for the instant execution of credit transfers in euro was agreed between payment service providers (PSPs) under the auspices of the European Payments Council. The efforts of the European payments industry have not proven sufficient to ensure a high uptake of instant credit transfers in euro at Union level. Only a widespread and rapid increase in such uptake could unlock the full-scale network effects of instant credit transfers in euro, leading to benefits and economic efficiency gains for payment service users (PSUs) and PSPs, reduced market concentration, and increased competition and choice of electronic payments, in particular for cross-border payments at the POI. (3) Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 established technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro. Instant credit transfers in euro are a relatively new category of credit transfers in euro which emerged on the market only after the adoption of that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to establish specific requirements applicable to instant credit transfers in euro, in addition to the general requirements applicable to all credit transfers, to ensure the proper functioning and integration of the internal market. (4) To make instant credit transfers more accessible and to widen their benefits to PSUs, Member States whose currency is not the euro should be able to apply equivalent rules to those laid down in this amending Regulation to domestic instant credit transfers in their own currency. (5) A number of national regulatory solutions have already been adopted or proposed to increase the uptake of instant credit transfers in euro, including by strengthening the protection of PSUs from sending funds to an unintended payee and by specifying the process of compliance with obligations flowing from restrictive measures adopted by the Union. The differences among those national regulatory solutions pose a risk of fragmentation of the internal market that would result in the increase of compliance costs due to different sets of national regulatory requirements and a more difficult execution of cross-border instant credit transfers. Uniform rules on instant credit transfers in euro, including cross-border instant credit transfers, should therefore be introduced to prevent such obstacles from arising. (6) Prior to the emergence of instant credit transfers, payment transactions were generally bundled by PSPs and submitted to a retail payment system for processing, clearing and settlement purposes at pre-specified times. However, in retail payment systems currently used to process instant credit transfers in euro, payment transactions are submitted individually and processed round the clock and in real time. To reflect that, it is necessary to amend the definition of the term ‘retail payment system’ in Regulation (EU) No 260/2012. (7) Ensuring that all PSUs in the Union are able to place payment orders for, and receive, instant credit transfers in euro is a precondition for an increased uptake of such transactions. Currently, at least one third of PSPs in the Union do not offer the payment service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro. Moreover, the rate at which PSPs have been introducing instant credit transfers into their range of services has been, over the last few years, too slow, which hinders further integration of the internal market, undermines the Union’s open strategic autonomy and limits potential benefits for PSUs. Therefore, PSPs providing the payment service of sending and receiving credit transfers in euro to their PSUs should be required to offer the payment service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro to all of their PSUs. That requirement should apply with respect to all payment accounts which PSPs maintain for their PSUs, including payment accounts with basic features referred to in Directive 2014/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (5). (8) To create an integrated market for instant credit transfers in euro, it is essential that such transactions are processed in accordance with a common set of rules and requirements. An instant credit transfer in euro enables funds to be credited to the account of the payee within seconds and round the clock. The round-the-clock availability every day of the year is an intrinsic feature of instant credit transfers, which should meet specific conditions, including as regards the time of receipt of payment orders, processing, crediting and value dating. (9) 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 the offer of a payment service of sending instant credit transfers in euro to the period of time during which the ECB and national central banks offer the payment service of sending and receiving non-instant credit transfers in euro. The reason to allow that limitation is that it may be necessary in order for the ECB or a national central bank, due to specificities of its internal operational arrangements, to comply with Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) at all times. (10) PSPs located in a Member State whose currency is not the euro could have limited access to liquidity in euro outside of business hours. Therefore, it is proportionate to provide for the possibility that such PSPs request the prior permission of their competent authorities to provide the payment service of sending instant credit transfers from accounts denominated in the national currency of that Member State outside of business hours only up to a certain limit per transaction. Competent authorities should be able to grant such permission based on their assessment of a PSP’s access to liquidity in euro. (11) There exist a variety of payment initiation channels in the Member States through which PSUs can place a payment order for a credit transfer in euro, for example, 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 payment initiation channels through which PSUs can place payment orders for instant credit transfers and other credit transfers. Moreover, where it is possible for a PSU to submit multiple payment orders for credit transfers in euro as a package to a PSP, it should also be possible to submit multiple payment orders for instant credit transfers in euro as a package. PSPs should be able to offer all credit transfers in euro initiated by their PSUs as instant credit transfers in euro by default. (12) Since some payment initiation channels, such as bank retail locations, are not available round the clock, the time of receipt of a paper-based payment order for an instant credit transfer should be the moment when the paper-based payment order is introduced into the internal system of the payer’s PSP, which should occur as soon as such payment initiation channels are available. (13) Where a PSU submits multiple payment orders for instant credit transfers as a package 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 for an instant credit transfer submitted in a package of multiple payment orders should be the moment when the ensuing individual instant credit transfer transaction has been unpacked, taking into account any capacity constraints of a retail payment system which have been communicated to the payer’s PSP. Immediately upon unpacking, the payer’s PSP should transmit that individual instant credit transfer transaction to the payee’s PSP. That transmission should occur without prejudice to possible solutions to be provided by retail payment systems which allow for the conversion of multiple payment orders for instant credit transfers as packages into individual instant credit transfer transactions. (14) 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 of that payment order should be the moment when the payer’s PSP, immediately after that payment order for an instant credit transfer in euro has been placed with it, converts the amount of the transaction into euro from the currency in which the payment account is denominated. (15) Payment institutions and electronic money institutions should contribute to facilitating the uptake of instant credit transfers in euro and should therefore be subject to the requirements of this amending Regulation. However, payment institutions and electronic money institutions are not included in the list of entities which fall under the definition of the term ‘institution’ in Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6). Consequently, payment institutions and electronic money institutions are effectively prevented from participating in systems designated by Member States pursuant to that Directive. The resulting inability to participate in such payment systems can impede payment institutions and electronic money institutions from providing instant credit transfers in euro efficiently and competitively. It is therefore justified to amend Directive 98/26/EC in order to include payment institutions and electronic money institutions in the list of entities which fall under the definition of the term ‘institution’ in that Directive, but only for the purpose of defining participants of a payment system. (16) Payment institutions and electronic money institutions should meet the requirements and respect the rules of payment systems designated by Member States pursuant to Directive 98/26/EC to be allowed to participate in those systems. Given the importance of the potential contribution of payment institutions and electronic money institutions to facilitating the uptake of instant credit transfers in euro, and the importance of restoring the level playing field between banks and those institutions as soon as possible, it is necessary to grant Member States a short deadline for transposing and applying the amendments to Directive 98/26/EC, and appropriate deadlines for applying this amending Regulation to payment institutions and electronic money institutions. In order to ensure a proper level playing field for participants in systems designated by Member States pursuant to that Directive, to maintain the stability and integrity of those systems and to ensure a comprehensive risk management by payment institutions and by electronic money institutions, it is necessary to further elaborate, for payment institutions and electronic money institutions requesting participation and participating in such systems designated by Member States pursuant to Directive 98/26/EC, certain provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7). Those provisions concern the safeguarding of users’ funds, governance arrangements and business continuity arrangements. It is anticipated that the amendments to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 will be further reviewed by the European Parliament and the Council when they consider the Commission proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market amending Directive 98/26/EC and repealing Directives (EU) 2015/2366 and 2009/110/EC and the Commission proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services in the internal market and amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010. (17) 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 national markets where higher transaction-level charges for instant credit transfers in euro have been applied, when compared to charges for other credit transfers in euro, 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 both PSPs and PSUs. Therefore, 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 not exceed such charges applied to the same PSU for corresponding types of other credit transfers in euro. It would be undesirable that PSPs circumvent the aim of that requirement. When identifying corresponding types of credit transfers, it should be possible to use criteria including the payment initiation channel or the payment instrument used to initiate the payment, customer status, and additional features or services. (18) Ubiquitous instant credit transfers in euro offer opportunities for PSPs to develop new payment solutions, such as mobile payment applications, facilitating the use of instant credit transfers in euro for payments at the POI. Such payment solutions could include additional features or services offered to payers and payees, such as payment initiation, dispute resolution or refunds. PSPs should be able to decide on the charges for such additional features or services on top of the underlying instant credit transfer. An instant-credit-transfer-based payment solution encompassing additional features or services should not be considered to be of corresponding nature to a non-instant credit transfer offered without the same additional features or services. Where it is possible for a PSU to submit payment orders for non-instant credit transfers without any additional features or services, the same possibility should also be available for instant credit transfers in euro. It should be ensured that, from the PSU’s perspective, it is not more expensive to send or receive an instant credit transfer in euro than it is to send or receive a non-instant credit transfer in euro provided with the same additional features or services. In particular, PSPs offering different variants of a payment solution where the only distinguishing characteristic between them would be the use of instant credit transfers in one and non-instant in the other, should ensure that the total charge for the instant credit transfer in euro variant is not higher than the charge for the non-instant credit transfer in euro variant. (19) In order to allow PSUs greater discretion when making use of instant credit transfers, a PSU should be able to set an individual limit fixing a maximum amount, either on a daily or per transaction basis, that it can send by means of instant credit transfer. PSUs should be able to modify or lift those individual limits at any time, without difficulty and with immediate effect. (20) Security of credit transfers in euro, both instant and non-instant, is fundamental for increasing PSUs’ confidence in the payment service of sending and receiving credit transfers and ensuring its use. Under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, the only determinant of the correct execution of the transaction with respect to the payee is the unique identifier, as defined in that Directive, and PSPs are not required to verify the name of the payee. PSPs should have in place robust and up-to-date fraud detection and prevention measures, designed to prevent a credit transfer from being sent to an unintended payee as a result of fraud or error, given that it might not be possible for the payer to recover the funds before those funds are credited to the payee’s account. PSPs should have a certain degree of flexibility in designing the most suitable measures for dealing with different payment initiation options. Such measures should not result in PSUs incurring any additional charges or fees. PSPs should therefore provide a service ensuring verification of the payee to whom the payer intends to send a credit transfer (service ensuring verification). To avoid undue friction or delays in the processing of the transaction, the payer’s PSP should perform such service immediately after the payer provides the relevant information about the payee and before the payer is offered the possibility of authorising the credit transfer. (21) Some attributes of the name of the payee to whose account the payer wishes to make a credit transfer, such as the presence of diacritics or different possible transliterations of names in different alphabets, differences between habitually used names and names indicated on formal documents, might result in a situation where the name of the payee provided by the payer and the name associated with the payment account identifier, specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 (payment account identifier), which was provided by the payer, do not match exactly but nevertheless almost match. In such cases, to avoid undue friction in the processing of credit transfers in euro and facilitate the payer’s decision whether to proceed with the intended transaction, the PSP should indicate to the payer the name of the payee associated with the payment account identifier provided by the payer in a manner which ensures compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8). (22) Authorising a credit transfer where the payee has not been verified can result in the funds being transferred to an unintended payee. PSPs should not be held liable for the execution of a transaction to an unintended payee on the basis of an incorrect unique identifier, as laid down in Article 88 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, insofar as PSPs correctly perform the service ensuring verification. However, where PSPs, including payment initiation service providers, fail to correctly perform such service and where such failure results in a defectively executed payment transaction, such PSPs should refund the payer the transferred amount without delay and, where applicable, restore the debited payment account to the state in which it would have been had the payment transaction not taken place. PSPs should inform PSUs of the implications for PSP liability and PSU refund rights of the choice of the PSUs to ignore a notification provided in accordance with this amending Regulation. (23) The service ensuring verification should as far as possible be carried out in accordance with a Union-wide set of rules and standards in order to encourage a smooth and interoperable implementation. That set of rules and standards could be developed by organisations composed of, or representing, PSPs. (24) PSUs that are not consumers and that submit multiple payment orders as a package should be able to opt out from receiving the service ensuring verification at any time during their contractual relationship with the PSP. After opting out from receiving the service ensuring verification, those PSUs should be able to opt in to avail themselves again of the service ensuring verification. (25) It is of critical importance that PSPs comply effectively with their obligations stemming from restrictive measures adopted by the Union in accordance with Article 215 TFEU in respect of a person, body or entity that is subject to an asset freeze or a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to it, or for its benefit, either directly or indirectly (targeted financial restrictive measures). Union law, however, does not lay down rules on the procedure or tools to be used by PSPs to ensure their compliance with those obligations. PSPs thus apply various methods, based on their individual choice or on the guidance provided by the national authorities concerned. The practice of complying with obligations stemming from targeted financial restrictive measures by screening the payer and the payee involved in each credit transfer transaction, whether national or cross-border, leads to a very high number of credit transfers being flagged as potentially involving persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures. However, the large majority of such flagged transactions turn out, after verification, not to involve any of the persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures. Due to the nature of instant credit transfers, it is impossible for PSPs to verify, within the required short time limit, those flagged transactions and, as a result, they are rejected. That situation creates operational challenges for PSPs to offer the payment service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers to their PSUs across the Union in a reliable and predictable way. To provide for greater legal certainty, to increase the efficiency of PSPs’ efforts to comply, in the context of instant credit transfers in euro, with their obligations stemming from targeted financial restrictive measures and to prevent unnecessary hindering of sending and receiving instant credit transfers, PSPs should periodically, and at least daily, verify whether their PSUs are persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures, and should no longer apply transaction-based screening in that specific context. The obligation of PSPs to periodically verify their PSUs is related only to persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures. Other types of restrictive measures adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU or restrictive measures that are not adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU fall outside the scope of that obligation. (26) To prevent the initiation of instant credit transfers from payment accounts belonging to persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures and to immediately freeze funds sent to such payment accounts, PSPs should carry out verifications of their PSUs immediately following the entry into force of a new targeted financial restrictive measure. That obligation should apply to all PSPs sending or receiving instant credit transfers in euro, thereby ensuring that all PSPs comply in an effective manner with their obligations stemming from targeted financial restrictive measures. The obligation of PSPs to periodically verify whether their PSUs are persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures does not interfere with actions that PSPs should be able to take to comply with Union law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, in particular with its risk-based requirements, to comply with restrictive measures, other than an asset freeze or a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available, that are adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU, or to comply with restrictive measures that are not adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU. (27) Infringements of the provisions introduced by this amending Regulation should be subject to penalties, imposed by the competent authorities or judicial authorities of the Member States. Such penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. To facilitate mutual trust among PSPs and among the relevant competent authorities in the uniform and thorough implementation of a harmonised approach to compliance with PSP obligations stemming from targeted financial restrictive measures, it is in particular appropriate to harmonise a mutual standard across the Union for the ceiling of the penalties to be imposed for the infringement by PSPs of their obligations to verify whether their PSUs are persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures. It should be possible to impose penalties not only on PSPs, but also on natural persons who are members of the senior management or management body of a PSP. (28) PSPs need sufficient time to meet the obligations laid down in this amending Regulation. It is therefore appropriate to introduce those obligations gradually, allowing PSPs a more efficient use of their resources. The obligation to offer the payment service of sending instant credit transfers should therefore apply later, preceded by the obligation to offer the payment service of receiving instant credit transfers, since the sending of instant credit transfers tends to be the more costly and complex of the two services to implement and therefore necessitates more time for its implementation. The service ensuring verification is relevant for PSPs offering the payment service of sending credit transfers. The obligation to offer the service ensuring verification should therefore apply from the same time as the obligation to offer the payment service of sending instant credit transfers. The obligations related to charges and harmonised procedure to ensure compliance with obligations stemming from targeted financial restrictive measures should apply as soon as PSPs are obliged to offer the payment service of receiving instant credit transfers. To allow PSPs located in Member States whose currency is not the euro to efficiently allocate the resources needed for the implementation of instant credit transfers in euro, the obligations laid down in this amending Regulation should apply to such PSPs as of later dates than to PSPs located in Member States whose currency is the euro. The introduction of the various obligations should be gradual as in the case of PSPs located in the euro area. If the euro is introduced as the currency of a Member State whose currency is not the euro before those later dates, the PSPs in that Member State should comply with this amending Regulation within one year of joining the euro area and not later than the respective dates specified for PSPs in Member States whose currency is not the euro. However, such PSPs should be able to comply with this amending Regulation earlier than the respective dates specified for PSPs in Member States whose currency is the euro. (29) The Commission should submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council evaluating the development of charges for payment accounts as well as for national and cross-border credit transfers and instant credit transfers in euro and in other currencies since the date of the adoption of the Commission’s legislative proposal for this amending Regulation, in other words 26 October 2022, in order to monitor any effects of this amending Regulation on the pricing of accounts, non-instant credit transfers and instant credit transfers. The Commission should also evaluate the scope and effectiveness of the obligation of a PSP to periodically verify whether its PSUs are persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures in preventing unnecessary hindering of sending and receiving instant credit transfers. The Commission should also submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report assessing remaining obstacles to effecting instant credit transfers in various circumstances, including payments at the POI. That report should assess the level of standardisation of the technologies which are relevant to the use of instant credit transfers, such as QR codes, near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth. (30) Under Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), charges applied by a PSP located in a Member State whose currency is not the euro in respect of cross-border credit transfers in euro are to be the same as charges applied by that PSP in respect of national credit transfers in the national currency of that Member State. In situations where such a PSP applies higher charges for national instant credit transfers in the national currency than for national non-instant credit transfers in the national currency, and therefore also higher charges than for cross-border non-instant credit transfers in euro, the level of charges that such a PSP would be required to apply under Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 in respect of cross-border instant credit transfers in euro would be higher than charges for cross-border non-instant credit transfers in euro. In such situations, to avoid conflicting requirements and taking into account the key objective of steering PSUs towards instant credit transfers in euro, it is appropriate to require that charges applied to payers and payees for cross-border instant credit transfers in euro do not exceed the charges applied for cross-border non-instant credit transfers in euro. (31) Regulations (EU) No 260/2012 and (EU) 2021/1230 and Directives 98/26/EC and (EU) 2015/2366 should therefore be amended accordingly. (32) Any processing of personal data in the context of providing credit transfers, or the service ensuring verification, as well as verifying whether PSUs are persons or entities subject to targeted financial restrictive measures, should be in line with Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Processing of the names and the payment account identifiers of natural persons is proportionate and necessary to prevent fraudulent transactions, detect errors, and ensure compliance with targeted financial restrictive measures. (33) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to provide the necessary uniform rules for cross-border instant credit transfers in euro at Union level and to increase the overall uptake of instant credit transfers in euro, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States because they cannot impose obligations on PSPs located in other Member States, but can rather, by reason of scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives. (34) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) and delivered an opinion on 19 December 2022 (11), HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-27 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.