Any stakeholder can participate in the SEPA schemes change-management process organised by the , and the also conducts a dialogue with stakeholders in formal bodies. The is also involved in other stakeholder initiatives, which contribute to payments standardisation, though they are not directly related to the schemes.
The Euro Retail Payments Board
One such external body is the Euro Retail Payments Board (). The is a high-level body chaired by the European Central Bank, bringing together the supply and demand sides of the industry to address strategic retail payments issues. Major topics impacting the schemes can be discussed at the , such as the creation of the ’s Instant Credit Transfer ( Inst) scheme. The provided regular updates about the Inst while it was in development, and will keep the updated in the future.
The Scheme End-User Forum (SEUF)
SEUF is formed by representatives of European associations of end-users of the schemes, such as consumers, (e-)merchants and corporate treasurers.
The Scheme Technical Forum (ESTF)
ESTF is made up of the representatives of technical players who provide services facilitating the processing of transactions under the schemes. Members of this forum include, for example, Clearing and Settlement Mechanism organisations, technical solution providers and payment messaging services companies.
The regularly involves these forums in the evolution of the schemes (including the creation of a new scheme – for example, they were consulted during the development of the Inst scheme). These forums have an active part to play as they can address issues and make recommendations to the . The publishes their positions and comments on the change requests that were subject to a public consultation.
SEUF and ESTF are renewed on a two-yearly basis, starting from their creation in September 2015.
There are still vacant seats among some categories within the SEUF and the ESTF. Information about the criteria to be a candidate, and how to apply for membership, is available in the SEUF and ESTF profiles.
Further information about these forums, summaries of their past meetings, and their positions on the latest public consultations on the Single Euro Payments Area scheme rulebooks are available:
Created during January 2018, the Application Programming Interface Evaluation Group ( ) is a market facing group tasked with evaluating standardised specifications in order to help ensure that those standards meet the needs of all market participants and comply with , the final Regulatory Technical Standards () on strong customer authentication () and common and secure open standards of communication () and other relevant legislation.
The will also provide a broadly supported source of market guidance relevant to market initiatives and account servicing payment service providers () implementing dedicated interfaces. This guidance may also be of relevance to national competent authorities (NCAs) when deciding whether or not an ASPSP that has chosen to develop a dedicated interface should be exempt from the requirement to have a fall-back option in place under Article 33(6) of the , and in particular with regard to the common market acceptance criteria. This will also help promote European convergence.
The scope of the will be all services and data which are to be made accessible for online payment accounts as per (e.g. payment initiation services, account information services).
The creation of the was proposed by the European Commission, as part of the final report of the ERPB Working Group on Payment Initiation Services, published following the November 2017 meeting.
The provides secretariat support to this group.
Agendas, minutes and other approved deliverables of the will be published on the website to ensure full transparency.