The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to the European Payments Council.
Today we start a series of articles representing the views of various stakeholders on the implementation of the revised Payment Services Directive ( ). What are the remaining challenges? What concerns are raised by its implementation across Europe? Answers to these and other questions can be found in our interview below with Emil Johansson, the Account Servicing Payment Service Provider (ASPSP) representative and product manager for application programming interface ( ) at Swedbank.
First, let’s talk about the implementation of the final Regulatory Technical Standards ( ) for strong customer authentication ( ) and common and secure communication ( ) under and their impact on the market. How would you summarise the current status and, in particular, the degree of harmony across the ?
Unfortunately, there is a lack of both harmonisation and clarity across Member States. This creates a situation where it is difficult for banks to understand the full scope of requirements for compliant . In addition, we see in some markets a lower usage of as a main point of access. However, several of the functionalities that Third Party Payment Service Providers ( ) claim are missing from are, in our opinion, not in the scope of .
How would you describe customer experience following the implementation of the ?
In our view, customer experience following the implementation of the is of at least the same quality as before the implementation due to Sweden and the Baltics’ existing high rate of method usage.
Have the key objectives of been achieved, and if not, what are the remaining challenges?
Yes, the key objectives have been achieved. However, there are still challenges as I mentioned in my response to your first question, and we would like to see a higher adoption rate for . It is also interesting to see that the majority of banks in Europe have implemented as the main access points. This is a positive step towards making Open Banking services available across Europe.
How do you see the future evolution of both in the context of and beyond ? What are likely future developments that will need addressing, e.g. further standardisation or business needs?
There is a great need for the market to develop common standards for . When these voluntary standards based on and on commercial grounds are in place, the full potential of and beyond can be reaped. All parts of the value chain must see the benefits of Open Banking.
Finally, do you already see a need to revise the and if so, why?
No, we need to see a full implementation of the full scope first. After that, we can evaluate it as part of the normal revision process that will be initiated in 2021.
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Emil Johansson
Emil has over ten years’ experience in the financial industry with a focus on new payment solutions. He is an early adopter of new technologies and a strong supporter of Open Banking. He is currently responsible for and Open Banking solutions in the payments and cash management area. Emil has also participated in several European working groups dealing with and Open Banking.