Government Proposal for the Implementation of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) Published
The Finnish Government published on 5 October 2017 a proposal for the amended Payment Services Act based on the PSD2. The PSD2 is implemented in two parts in Finland, by amending the Payment Services Act and the Payment Institutions Act. The Government proposal for the amended Payment Institutions Act will be published within the upcoming weeks.
Background
The Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2) entered into force on 12 January 2016 and must be transposed into national law no later than 13 January 2018.
The PSD2 aims to promote the development of an efficient, secure and competitive payments area. It is a major change set to impact the innovation and security of payments across Europe and update payment services regulation in line with market developments.
PSD2 in Brief
The PSD2 extends the scope of regulation to new types of payment service providers, Account Information Service Providers (AISPs) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs). The PSD2 is a game changing regulation in particular, because it obligates banks to open up their infrastructure for payment initiations of PISPs as well as for requests for customer account information by AISPs with a consent of a client.
The security requirements related to the access to the banks infrastructure as well as certain other more detailed matters are further clarified in the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) drafted by the European Banking Authority (EBA). The publication of the RTS remains to be awaited, and the RTS will be applicable only 18 months after its entry into force.
Implementation in Finland
Finland is on schedule with the national implementation. Once also the Government proposal for the Payment Institutions Act has been published, Parliament will discuss the Government proposals and decide on the approval of respective laws. The President of the Republic will thereafter ratify the laws and effective dates will be confirmed in connection with the ratification. According to current estimate, new legislation relating to the implementation of the PSD2 will enter into force on 13 January 2018 at the latest.
We will keep you posted on the national implementation process and provide also a more detailed analysis on respective laws. In the meantime, the Government proposal for the amended Payment Services Act can be found here.
We at Dittmar & Indrenius are happy to discuss any questions you may have regarding the PSD2 and its national implementation as well as its expected implications.