The EU directive PSD2 may not be as famous as GDPR, but its effects may be even more dramatically felt by financial institutions and anyone transacting with them.

PSD2 stands for second payment standards directive, and was issued by the EU with the intent to open access to data and services previously only available to banks. In theory, PSD2 went into effect on January 13, and should provide a clear framework for implementation. The difference between theory and practice is small in theory, but big in practice.

PSD2 is defined in a set of documents published by the EU, which are to be subsequently implemented as legislation by parliaments in EU countries and enforced by regulating bodies. PSD2 will effectively force financial institutions active in the EU to open up data and functionality previously only available to them to other parties. ZDNet turned to the experts to discuss the specifics of PSD2.

Accenture advises banks, Fintechs and other industry players in devising strategies to take advantage of PSD2. Anupam Majumdar and Marcus van Dalen, lead of Accenture’s Payments & Open Banking consulting practice in the Netherlands and analyst with Accenture Financial Services respectively, have long standing experience with PSD2. According to them:

The bank is referred to as the account servicing payment service provider (ASPSP), and needs to have customer consent to provide access to TPPs. Majumdar and van Dalen believe that “while these new TPPs have the potential to change the face of payments, incumbent banks are being forced to play the role of providing only balance sheet provision services and ‘utility banking services’.

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