The European Commission has put forward proposals to bring payments and the wider financial sector into the digital age. The new regulations will increase consumer safety and competition in electronic payments, as well as enable customers to securely share their data in order to access a broader choice of financial goods and services.

The value of electronic payments in the EU is expected to exceed EUR 240 trillion by 2021. New players have joined the market, aided by digital technology, particularly those offering Open Banking services. As a result of these changes, the new measures seek to ensure that the EU's financial sector is fit for purpose and capable of responding to the ongoing digital revolution, as well as the dangers and possibilities it brings – particularly for consumers.

Revising the Payment Services Directive One of the suggestions is to change and modernise the present Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which will become PSD3, as well as establish a Payment Services Regulation (PSR). It consists of a set of metrics that include: Combat and mitigate payment fraud by allowing payment service providers to share fraud-related information among themselves, extending refund rights to victims of fraud, and mandating a system for checking the alignment of payees' IBAN numbers with their account names for all credit transfers. Improve consumer rights, improve transparency on their account statements, and offer more transparent information on ATM fees. Allow non-bank payment service providers access to all EU payment systems while ensuring their rights to a bank account. Improve Open Banking functionality and client control over payment data, allowing new creative services to join the market. Increase cash availability in stores and through ATMs by allowing businesses to give cash services to clients without needing a purchase and clarifying the regulations for independent ATM operators. This proposal assures that customers may continue to conduct electronic payments and transactions in the EU, whether they are domestic or cross-border.

While protecting customers' rights, it also attempts to increase the market's choice of payment service providers. Legislative proposal for a framework for Financial Data Access This proposal will provide explicit rights and duties to regulate consumer data sharing beyond payment accounts in the financial industry, namely: Customers can exchange their data in a secure machine-readable manner with data users in order to obtain new financial and information goods and services. Customer data holders are expected to make this data available to data users by putting in place the necessary technological infrastructure, subject to customer authorisation. Customers have complete control over who has access to their data and for what purpose, which is assisted by the necessity for specialised permission dashboards and increased security of customers' personal data in accordance with the GDPR. Standardisation of customer data and the appropriate technological interfaces as part of financial data exchange schemes must be joined by both data holders and data consumers. Clear liability frameworks for data breaches and dispute resolution processes as part of financial data sharing schemes so that liability concerns do not disincentivise data holders from sharing data. Additional incentives for data holders to implement high-quality interfaces for data users through acceptable payments from data users in accordance with the Data Act proposal's broad principles of B2B data sharing. The new proposal fulfills a pledge in the Commission's 2020 Retail Payments Strategy by ensuring that the regulations governing the EU retail payments industry remain fit for purpose, taking market changes into account, and fostering the growth of immediate payments in the EU.

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