Payment services

Recent Articles

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  06/03/2024

  FCA sends Dear CEO letter to firms in warning over money laundering failings

  The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has sent a Dear CEO letter (the “Letter”) to Annex 1 Firms warning them about common failings found in their ability to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (hereafter “Financial Crime”). This forms part of the FCA’s enhanced monitoring of Annex 1 Firms in relation to their Financial Crime controls and its increasingly proactive approach in enforcing its regulatory expectations.The FCA is asking Annex 1 Firms to carry out a gap analysis against the failings it has identified in...

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  02/02/2024

  DORA obligations apply to different payment operators and processors in Spain

  Royal Decree-Law 8/2023 applies certain obligations of DORA Regulation to payment system operators, payment scheme operators, electronic payment arrangement operators, payment processors and other technological or technical service providers.On 28 December 2023, Royal Decree-Law 8/2023, of 27 December, adopting measures to address the economic and social consequences of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as to mitigate the effects of the drought (hereinafter the "Royal Decree-Law"), was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). Among other measures, the text includes certain...

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  11/10/2023

  EU: Adoption of the new consumer credit directive: impact for BNPL

  On 9 October 2023, the Council of the European Union adopted the new directive on consumer credits (CCD) in its final and definitive version. This version was already approved by the European Parliament on 12 September 2023. The CCD introduces a new set of consumer protection rules, which impact Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) activities. BNPL is a frequently used payment method whereby a merchant enables its customers to postpone payment while purchasing goods or services, generally at the intervention of a third-party lender.Currently, BNPL falls outside the scope of the previous Consumer Credit Directive...

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  27/07/2021

  UK Government explores AML reform for Open Banking payment service providers

  The perceived disconnect between the compliance burden on account information service providers (AISPs), who provide “information only” services to customers to enable them to view consolidated financial information about multiple accounts, and the actual ML/TF risks their services are exposed to has been observed by market participants for some time. This had led to different approaches in practice as to the level of customer due diligence that AISPs carry out. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has also recently consulted on and issued updates to its Guidelines on ML/TF risk factors...

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  02/02/2021

  An Updated Approach: the FCA’s new Consultation Paper CP21/3 on Payment Services and E-Money

  This note summarises these changes and will be of interest to: credit institutions providing payment services and/or issuing e-money; payment institutions; e-money institutions; registered account information services providers; firms subject to the temporary permissions regime (the “TPRs”) and the financial services contracts regime; and Gibraltar firms providing payment services in the UK. 1. Amendments to the FCA approach document on payments and e-money The Approach Document sets out the regulators approach to the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (“PSRs”) and the...

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  17/07/2020

  FCA publishes Final Guidance and Dear CEO letter on Coronavirus and Safeguarding Customers' Funds

  The Guidance The Guidance aims to temporarily strengthen Payment Firms’ approach towards safeguarding and prudential risk management in light of Coronavirus and subsequent economic pressure. The FCA will conduct a full consultation later in 2020/21 on changes to its Approach Document. The key takeaways from the Guidance are as follows: Proposals for Payment Firms subject to safeguarding requirements Keeping records and accounts and making reconciliations – Where there is potential for discrepancies regarding the records and accounts of “relevant funds”, Payment Firms should...

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