On 7 March 2019, the
published its decision paper on Brexit and United Kingdom’s (UK) payment service providers’ (
) participation in the
payment schemes, approving UK Finance's application for the continued participation of UK
in the
payment schemes, even in the event of a “no-deal Brexit”, provided that the UK keeps complying with the relevant
participation criteria.
On 31 January 2020, the UK formally left the European Union (
) and entered into an 11-month transition period, agreed within the Withdrawal Agreement with the
, which will run until 31 December 2020, 11 PM, GMT.
By effects of said transition period, until 31 December 2020 the UK is a non-European Economic Area (
) country temporarily part of the European single market and customs union, subject to the relevant
regulatory framework.
Therefore, as communicated earlier this year during the remainder of the transition period the UK will continue operating within the scope of the
payment schemes without any change, due to the fact that existing
rules and regulations will continue to apply in the UK. To this extent, between 1 February and 31 December 2020, no new requirement will apply, and no changes will be needed for the
Credit Transfer (
) /
Direct Debit (
) transactions to and from the UK.
However, as of 1 January 2021 as no extension of the transition period was agreed, the UK is set to leave the single market and customs union, either with an
-UK deal, negotiated during the transition period, or without it (i.e. "no-deal" Brexit). For clarity, the UK will at that point maintain participation in the
geographic scope, however, this important change will make the
/
rules applicable to transactions from/to non-
jurisdictions also applicable to
/
transactions with the UK.
The
therefore requests all
to implement without delay the measures described below, to ensure a continued smooth processing of cross-border
payments involving a UK-based
payment scheme participant after 31 December 2020.
transactions to be executed or settled as of 1 January 2021 involving a UK-based
payment scheme participant must contain:
For
and
Instant Credit Transfer (
) instructions from the Originator:
- The full address details of the Originator.
- The BIC code of the Beneficiary Bank when the Originator Bank explicitly requests this data element from the Originator.
For and Business-to-Business (B2B) collection files from the Creditor:
- The full address details of the Debtor.
- The BIC code of the Debtor Bank when the Creditor Bank explicitly requests this data element from the Creditor.
The lack of these additional transaction details may lead to rejected transactions or potential other issues from the scheme participant receiving the payment message, i.e. the Beneficiary Bank in case of
and
instructions and the Debtor Bank in case of
collections (or from their respective clearing and settlement partners in the interbank space).
Therefore, the
strongly recommends each
payment scheme participant to identify as soon as possible its customers with incoming and outgoing cross-border
transactions involving both a UK and an
payment account, and to inform all customers concerned about the need to provide these extra
transaction data as from 1 January 2021 (as execution or settlement date).
payment scheme participants with questions on the above are invited to contact the relevant National Adherence Support Organisation (NASO) or the
directly.
In line with the abovementioned
Board decision of 7 March 2019, the
will regularly monitor the developments of Brexit throughout the transition period and thereafter.
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