 |
Charlie McCreevy |
On Tuesday the EU approved the final draft of the Payments Services Directive (PSD) so making the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) achievable. The 27 finance ministers of the European Union Member States - the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) - unanimously signed off what was a compromise text on a directive guaranteeing fair and open access to payments markets and increasing consumer protection.
Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: "This is a good compromise and contributes to the twin objectives of market opening and consumer protection. Easy and quick cross-border payments will bring massive savings to the EU economy and real, practical benefits to consumers. The introduction of the first SEPA instruments is now less than 10 months away. This unanimous agreement sends signals that will be well received by all those, and there are many, who believe in SEPA and have already invested massively in it."
The aim of the PSD is to make cross-border payments within the EU – by credit card, debit card, electronic bank transfer, direct debit or any other means – as easy, cheap and secure as domestic payments within a single Member State. Currently each Member State has its own rules and service providers are effectively blocked from competing and offering their services throughout the EU. The annual cost of making payments between fragmented systems is estimated at 2-3% of GDP and removal of the barriers could save the EU economy upwards of €28 billion per year overall.
The PSD protects all users of payment services (consumers, retailers, SMEs), and provides the legal foundation for SEPA, an initiative of the European Payments Council, representing the European banking industry and supported by the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
The PSD will now be presented to the European Parliament for final legal approval.
| 
