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Members of the European Parliament’s (MEPs) amendments to the Payment Services Directive (PSD3) have been made publicly available as political groupings in the Parliament prepare to make compromises. 

On November 16, PSD3 rapporteur Ondrej Kovarik released his report on the legislative text released by the European Commission on June 28.

This included industry-friendly suggestions for the legislation, such as a speedier licensing regime and stricter rules regarding the de-banking of payments and e-money firms. 

Now, other  have been made by various MEPs on the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee. 

Here, they have continued to add industry-oriented proposals. 

MEPs back business

For example, Lídia Pereira, a Portuguese MEP, has amended Article 5 of the PSD3 text. 

Whereas the legislative text said “where the payment institution provides electronic money services, its capital shall at no time be less than EUR 400 000”, Pereira has suggested lowering this to €300,000. 

Further, an amendment by Gunnar Beck, a German MEP, says that “Member States shall ensure that payment institutions have access to accounts at central banks on an objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate basis”. 

Beck’s amendment continues that central banks will need to provide duly motivated reasons for any decision to refuse access to an account with the central bank, or to withdraw such access, to the payment institution.

Kovařík, meanwhile, has suggested removing a provision from the commission text that says payment institutions “shall endeavour not to safeguard all consumer funds with one credit institution”. 

Marek Belka, the MEP serving as rapporteur for the Payment Services Regulation (PSR), has also placed an amendment alongside fellow colleagues Paul Tang and René Repasi that attempts to iron out the cross-border provision of payment services in the EU. 

Here, the MEPs, who sit as part of the social democratic grouping in the European Parliament, have said that in order for payment institutions to truly engage in cross-border services, the European Commission should provide a website or a one-stop shop that encompasses all of the information in one place on how to register to provide payment services in particular member states.

Kovařík has also added amendments to Recital 45 in the PSD3 draft. 

Recital 45 focuses on payment institutions' use of agents for cross-border services, and Kovařík has added additional requirements here, stating that when acquirers use an agent to deliver payment services, “it should be noted that the agent only acts on behalf of one acquirer as the principal payment service provider and not in respect of all payment services provided to the payment services user”.

Accessing cash

Meanwhile, Pereira, a member of the European People’s Party, and centre-left counterparts such as Belka, appear to have a difference of opinion on access to cash. 

Pereira has laid down an amendment to the text that advises that “it is appropriate” to impose a cap of €50 per transaction (as is proposed by the commission) and additionally €500 per month. 

“When offering this service, retailers should be obliged to request the insertion of the PIN Code manually by the client,” Pereira says. 

However, Belka, Tang and Repasi have said that it is appropriate to impose a larger cap of €100. 

With the deadline for adding amendments to the text now passed, political groups in the European Parliament will need to work on compromises, which will be ready before the vote in the ECON, currently planned for January 29, 2024.

According to a spokesperson for ECON, the negotiating mandate should then be adopted without a vote on February 6, which should mean that the European Parliament’s negotiating team will be ready for talks with their counterparts in the European Council on the final shape of the PSD3 and PSR.