Open Banking services for which banks can charge fees
The SEPA Payment Account Access (SPAA) initiative is an EU project designed to create a standardized method for third-party providers to access payment accounts within the Single Euro Payments Area. It allows banks to exchange payment account related data with TPPs in exchange for a fee. SPAA aims to establish secure and efficient processes for TPPs to offer payment services and retrieve account information by standardizing APIs for interoperability among banks and third-party services across the SEPA region. This initiative is expected to increase competition by enabling TPPs to develop their own innovative payment solutions, improve consumer convenience through integration of financial services, and ensure security by enforcing standards for data sharing to limit fraud and data breaches. In turn it should benefit customers with more and potentially better choices.
European Banks are cooperating on a standard interface
Within Europe there is The Berlin Group, which consists of almost forty banks that work together to create interoperability between different payment systems across Europe. This is crucial for ensuring seamless transactions between different PSPs and other financial institutions. The APIs are designed to support Open Finance schemes such as SPAA. This allows for leveraging existing PSD2 infrastructures and investments, thereby maxing synergies and efficiency. The Berlin Group is working on defining a ‘minimum viable product’ which involves mandatory requirements that need to be met for implementation. This requirement is going to be based on the technical regulations from EBA and PSD2, and this will include Access to Account.
To help banks and PSPs start with a SPAA scheme that’s in line with the Berlin Group and the regulations from EBA and PSD2, Ximedes can assist in the development and deployment of standardized APIs. SPAA aims to establish interoperability among financial institutions and TPPs across the SEPA region. We can help create compliant APIs that meet SPAA specifications and are tailored to the needs of financial institutions so that it enables them to offer payment services and retrieve account information effectively.
