The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has delivered a significant judgment in Betaal Garant Nederland CV v De Nederlandsche Bank NV (Case C 51/25), providing important clarification on a question which businesses received client funds have long grappled with: does an entity provide a regulated payment service merely because it receives, holds and subsequently arranges for the transfer of funds?
In its judgment of 16 July 2026, the CJEU clarified that the mere receipt, holding and onward transfer of funds does not constitute the execution of a credit transfer under Article 4(3), read in conjunction with point 3(c) of Annex I to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (“PSD2”), where the intermediary holds the funds in an account in its own name and the relevant transfers are executed by the banks maintaining the respective accounts.
