[ParlTrack]

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7 a (new)

(7a) The European Central Bank (ECB) and national central banks, when not acting in their capacity as monetary authorities or other public authorities, should be able to limit their offering of a payment service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro to the period of time during which they receive and send non-instant credit transfer transactions in euro, where such limitation is needed to ensure compliance with Article 123 TFEU.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8

(8) There is a variety of interfaces through which PSUs can place a payment order for a credit transfer in euro, including via online banking, a mobile application, an automated teller machine, a self-service terminal, in a branch, or by phone. To ensure that all PSUs have access to instant credit transfers in euro, there should be no difference in terms of the interfaces through which PSUs can place payment orders for instant and other types of credit transfer transactions; considering that the features of the different interfaces do not in all cases foresee the possibility to place a payment order on an uninterrupted basis. Moreover, where it is possible for a PSU to submit to a PSP payment orders for credit transfers packaged together, that same possibility should also be available with respect to instant credit transfers in euro. PSPs should be able to offer all credit transfers in euro initiated by their PSUs as instant by default. Regarding automated teller machines, only those that offer the possibility to place a payment order should offer the option to place instant payment orders.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Lídia PEREIRA, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9

(9) It would not be proportionate to impose on payment institutions and electronic money institutions an obligation to offer the service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro, because those institutions cannot be admitted as participants in a payment system designated in accordance with Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council36 . Those institutions may therefore experience difficulties in accessing the infrastructure necessary to execute instant credit transfers. It is therefore appropriate to exclude payment institutions and electronic money institutions from the obligation to offer the service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers in euro as long as they are not considered to be institutions in accordance with Article 2, point (b) of the Settlement Finality Directive. Therefore, Directive 98/26/EC should be amended to allow payment institutions and electronic money institutions to act as participants in a payment system designated in accordance with that Directive. __________________ 36 Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems (OJ L 166, 11.6.1998, p. 45).

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11

(11) Security of instant credit transfers in euro is fundamental for increasing PSUs’ confidence in such services and ensuring their use. Payers intending to send a credit transfer to a given payee may, as a result of fraud or error, provide a payment account identifier which does not correspond to an account held by that payee. Under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council37 , the only determinant of the correct execution of the transaction with respect to the payee is the unique identifier, and PSPs are not required to verify the name of the payee. In the case of instant credit transfers, there is not enough time for the payer to realise the occurrence of a fraud or error and to try to recover the funds before they are credited to the payee’s account. PSPs should therefore verify whether there is any discrepancy between the unique identifier of the payee and the name of the payee provided by the payer, and notify the payer placing a payment order for an instant credit transfer in euro about any such discrepancies detectedprovide a service to verify the identity of the payee based on the payment account identifier. To avoid undue frictions or delays in the processing of the transaction instantly, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification within no more than a few seconds from the moment the payer provided the payee information. To allow the payer to decide whether to proceed with the intended transaction, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification before the payer authorises the transaction. PSPs should offer that service free of charge to PSUs. __________________ 37 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11 a (new)

(11a) Some instant credit transfer initiation solutions could be available to payers that allow them to place a payment order without being required to insert the payment account identifier. In such cases, that identifier is provided on behalf of the payer by the provider of the initiation solution, for example a PISP, proxy provider or even the PSP. When the identifier is provided on behalf of the payer by the PSP or any third party, it should be possible to adapt the verification process to the PSU interface.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12

(12) Some attributes of the name of the payee to whose account the payer wishes to make an instant credit transfer may increase the likelihood of a discrepancy being detected by the PSP, including the presence of diacritics or different possible transliterations of names in different alphabets, differences between habitually used names and names indicated on formal identification documents in case of natural persons, or differences between commercial and legal names in case of legal persons. To avoid undue frictions in the processing of instant credit transfers in euro and facilitate the payer’s decision on whether to proceed with the intended transaction, PSPs ~~should~~might indicate the degree of such discrepancy~~, including by indicating in the notification that there is ‘no match’ or ‘close match’~~.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13

(13) Authorising a payment transaction where the PSP has detected a discrepancy and has notified that discrepancy to the PSU can result in the funds being transferred to an unintended payee. In such cases, PSPs should not be held liable for the execution of the transaction to an unintended payee, as laid down in Article 88 of Directive (EU) 2015/2366. PSPs should inform PSUs about the implications for PSP liability and PSU refunds rights of their choice to ignore the notified discrepancy. ~~PSUs should be able to opt out from using that service at any time during their contractual relationship with the PSP. After opting out, PSUs should be able to opt in to again avail of the service.~~

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Lídia PEREIRA, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14

(14) It is of critical importance that PSPs effectively comply with their obligations stemming from Union sanctions against persons, bodies or entities that are subject to an asset freeze or a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to it, or for its benefit, either directly or indirectly, pursuant to restrictive measures adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU (listed persons or entities). Union law, however, does not lay down rules on the procedure or tools to be used by PSPs to ensure their compliance with those obligations. PSPs thus apply various methods, based on their individual choice or on the guidance provided by the national authorities concerned. The practice of complying with obligations stemming from Union sanctions by screening the payer and the payee involved in each credit transfer transaction, either national or cross-border, leads to a very high number of credit transfers being flagged as potentially involving listed persons or entities. However, the large majority of such flagged transactions turn out, after verification, not to involve any such persons or entities. Due to the nature of instant credit transfers, it is impossible for PSPs to verify, within short time limits, such flagged transactions instantly and, as a result, they are rejected. That situation creates operational challenges for PSPs to offer instant credit transfers to their PSUs across the Union in a reliable and predictable way. To provide for greater legal certainty, increase the efficiency of PSPs’ efforts to comply with their obligations stemming from Union sanctions in the context of instant credit transfers in euro, and to prevent unnecessary hindering of such transactions, PSPs should thus verify, at least daily, whether their PSUs are listed persons or entities, and should no longer apply transaction-based screening. The use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) could play a beneficial role in that context by facilitating the screening of sanctions.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15

(15) To prevent the initiation of instant credit transfers from payment accounts belonging to listed persons or entities and to immediately freeze funds sent to such accounts, PSPs should carry out verifications of their PSUs as soon as possible following the ~~entry into force~~publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of a new restrictive measure adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU providing for asset freeze or prohibition of making funds or economic resources available, thus ensuring that PSPs comply with their obligations stemming from Union sanctions in an effective manner.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Lídia PEREIRA, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15 a (new)

(15a) Without prejudice to the above obligations, the Commission should work on the elaboration of a Union-wide harmonised sanctions list which covers Union sanctions, national sanctions and direct international sanctions regimes.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18

(18) PSPs need sufficient time to meet the obligations laid down in this Regulation. It is therefore appropriate to introduce those obligations gradually, allowing PSPs a more efficient use of their resources. The obligation to offer the service of sending instant credit transfers should therefore apply later, preceded by the obligation to offer the service of receiving instant credit transfers, since the sending of instant credit transfers tends to be more costly and complex of the two services to implement and therefore necessitates more time. The service of notifying detected discrepancies between the name and payment account identifier of the payee to the payer is only relevant for PSPs offering the service of sending instant credit transfers. The obligation to offer that service should therefore apply from the same time as the obligation to offer the service of sending instant credit transfers. The obligations related to charges and harmonised procedure to ensure compliance with obligations stemming from Union sanctions should apply as soon as PSPs are obliged to offer the service of receiving instant credit transfers. To allow PSPs located in Member States whose currency is not the euro to efficiently allocate the resources needed for the implementation of instant credit transfers in euro, the obligations laid down in this Regulation should apply to such PSPs as of a later date than to PSPs located in Member States whose currency is the euro ~~with the same gradual approach for introducing various obligations as for PSPs located in the euro area~~.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Lídia PEREIRA, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA