FinTech Focus: New European Directive On Payment Services (PSD2) Comes Into Force

On 12 January 2016, the long-awaited revised Payment Services Directive ("PSD2") came into force in Europe. This replaces the Payment Services Directive ("PSD") that has been in place since 2007. The deadline for EU member states to implement PSD2 into their national laws and regulations is 13 January 2018.

PSD2 is a significant reform to the EU regulatory regime for payment services and has been introduced to take into account significant innovations in card, internet and mobile payment services since 2007, and to better reflect the current (increasingly crowded) European payment services market. Crucially, it covers a wider range of payments-related services and businesses than PSD and will require providers to change their systems and processes to comply with the new rules.