The EBA Consults On Technical Standards For Uniform Reporting Under The Single Euro Payments Area Regulation And Issues Statement To Payment Service Providers

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a public consultation on its draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) for uniform reporting templates in relation to the level of charges for credit transfers and share of rejected transactions under SEPA Regulation. These templates aim to standardise reporting from Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to their National Competent Authorities (NCAs). With such standardisation, the European Commission will be able to monitor the effects of changes to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation on the fees paid by customers of PSPs for payment accounts, as well as instant and non-instant credit transfers. The consultation runs until 31 October 2024.

In these draft ITS, the EBA is proposing that Payment Service Providers (PSPs) report the level of charges for regular credit transfers and instant credit transfers with breakdowns by type of transfer (domestic or cross-border), type of payment service users, type of payment initiation channels, and the party subject to the charge. The EBA is also proposing that PSPs report charges for payment accounts, as well as the share of instant transfers, both domestic and cross-border, that were rejected due to the application of EU-wide restrictive measures.

With this public consultation the EBA is seeking stakeholders’ feedback on the proposed approach to standardising the reporting requirements, including the clarity of the draft templates and instructions to complete them. The EBA is also seeking feedback on whether the draft ITS strike the right balance between the need to obtain the data required for a robust analysis of the impact of the changes to the SEPA Regulation and the need to avoid excessive reporting burden for the industry.

The draft ITS is accompanied by a preparatory statement addressed to the PSPs, where the EBA stresses that PSPs are expected to record and store information on the level of charges for credit transfers and payment accounts, and numbers of rejected transactions, to comply with future reporting requirements under the revised SEPA Regulation.

Consultation process

Comments to the consultation paper can be sent by clicking on the "send your comments" on the EBA's consultation page. The deadline for the submission of comments is 31 October 2024 at 23:59 CET. The EBA will consider the feedback received to this consultation when finalising the ITS.

A public hearing on the technical standards for uniform reporting under the Single Euro Payments Area Regulation will take place via online meeting on 9 October 2024 from 10:00 to 11:30 CET. Please register for the hearing here by 7 October 16:00 CET.

All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.

Legal basis and background

Article 15(3) of the amended SEPA Regulation requires that “PSPs shall report to their competent authorities on: (a) the level of charges for credit transfers, instant credit transfers and payment accounts; (b) the share of rejections, separately for national and cross-border payment transactions, due to the application of targeted financial restrictive measures.“ Article 15(5) of the amended SEPA Regulation stipulates that “The EBA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to specify uniform reporting templates, instructions and methodology on how to use those reporting templates for the purposes of reporting as referred to in paragraph 3.”