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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have agreed on a version of the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) and Payment Services Directive (PSD3).
Lawmakers adopted their position on the PSR with 511 votes to 22 against and 75 abstentions, and on the PSD3 with 484 votes to 8 against and 118 abstentions. Their representatives will now negotiate with representatives of national governments on a final version of the laws after the June 6-9 EU elections.
In their position, MEPs said that a payment service provider (PSP) that is failing to apply appropriate fraud prevention mechanisms would be responsible for compensating customers’ losses resulting from fraud.
In addition, rules relating to social media liability have made it into the final text, which could see the likes of Meta and Google having to share the burden of fraud reimbursement costs with PSPs if they are found to have failed to prevent fraudulent activity taking place.
In the PSD3 position, MEPs have agreed that the authorisation procedure for payment providers needs to be clearer and simpler, with better harmonisation across the EU in this regard.
MEPs have also said that there should be better access to cash, especially in remote or rural areas.
To achieve this, retail shops providing cash independently from a purchase, up to €100, should be exempt from the regulation, while ATMs that enable cash withdrawals but do not service payment accounts should benefit from lighter standards.
In a sign of the election campaign that is currently underway, the lawmaker leading work on the PSR, Marek Belka, said in a press statement that “with this file we prove to the EU citizens, even just before the elections, that we have their backs”.
“We prove eurosceptics that they are wrong and that the EU is an added value for each and every one of us, giving a strong mandate for the upcoming Parliament to negotiate with the Council,” the Polish MEP and former regulatory official said.
If Belka fails to hold his seat in the June election, a new lead lawmaker for the PSR file will have to be appointed. The same is true of Ondrej Kovarik, who is responsible for the PSD3 file.
The loss of either would disappoint the fintech industry, with Kovarik in particular having been praised for his work on files relating to payments and crypto services in the EU.
