The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are consulting on two documents and the Payment Services Regulator (PSR) – a subsidiary of FCA – is consulting on their own Approach Document for the implementation of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). Collectively the three documents constitute 522 pages.
- FCA Consultation Paper: Implementation of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2): draft Approach Document and draft Handbook changes. Link
- FCA Approach document: Payment Services and Electric [sic] Money – Our Approach. Link
- Payment Services Regulator (PSR) Approach Document: The PSR’s proposed approach to monitoring and enforcing the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). Link
The FCA consultation acknowledges its release in advance of any direction from HM Treasury related to issues stemming from responses to Treasury’s consultation.
aimm’s Position
aimm’s response to the HM Treasury consultation formalised our previously identified and discussed issues relating to interpretation, cascade of exclusion and the financial impact of strict adherence. Read our response here: We are waiting for Treasury to respond to aimm.
Inside the FCA consultation, two significant issues have been immediately identified
1. The description of “individual subscriber” which remains undefined in PSD2 and is a contradiction of defined terms elsewhere, is interpreted by FCA as the bill payer, not the user.
2. The FCA have for many years considered the intermediary role to be akin to Merchant Acquiring. The new term in PSD2 is Payment Acquiring. While aimm are negotiating a cascade of the telecom operators exclusion to Intermediaries, FCA are suggesting that the intermediary role requires registration.
Our immediate response is to be aware of these potential issues but wait for Treasury to provide their formal position on these matters.
We are also considering an escalation to Government ministers (Treasury and DCMS) and have asked Ofcom to become involved as both these issues create a serious threat to premium rate revenues and regulation.
