Pan-European Instant Payment Forum kicks off in Frankfurt
The inaugural meeting of the Open Forum on Pan-European Instant Payments drew 77 representatives from 55 payment service providers, technology providers and other stakeholders to Frankfurt this week to kick off discussions about requirements and collaboration on infrastructure services to support instant payments at a pan- European level.
It included an analysis of the expectations of the European Central Bank and the Euro Retail Payments Board and the underlying ‘layered approach’ for the development of any pan-European solution.
The new supplier-driven forum was initiated by the Euro Banking Association, a pan- European association of payment service providers and suppliers with a focus on payments and operations. The objective is to “broaden the exchange of views on instant payments among payment practitioners and other stakeholders and to contribute to the upcoming instant payment scheme discussions”. The forum also provides a platform for liaising with others engaged in related industry initiatives at a European and global level.
The initiative is a response to a call for action by the Euro Retail Payments Board, which has invited the supply side of the payments industry to help achieve an open and competitive market for instant payments in Europe. Based on a vision document created by the European Central Bank, the ERPB has expressed a need for at least one pan-European instant payment solution for euro open to any payment service provider in the European Union and has invited the supply side to make an assessment of the issues related to the delivery of any such solution.
“The EBA would like to help kick-start the pan-European collaborative effort that will be required to support the end-to-end roll-out of instant payment services in euro across Europe,” said Wolfgang Ehrmann, chairman of the EBA. “We feel that the initiation of an open forum for payment practitioners and other stakeholders is one important element in the endeavour to make available instant payment services to customers all across Europe. The EBA has a long track record in generating supply side engagement and contributing to the practical delivery of pan-European visions – we are happy to bring this experience and expertise to the instant payment debate and support any solution-building activities with this wider engagement-building exercise.”
Participation in the discussions is open to representatives of any entity with an interest in contributing to enhanced European electronic payment solutions. The forum is of particular interest to payment service providers, users, suppliers with a special focus 2/2 on payments and operations, as well as relevant stakeholders in the European and global payments industry.
The next meeting of the open forum will be held in Amsterdam on 12 May 2015. To attend the second meeting of the Open Forum on Instant Payments facilitated by the Euro Banking Association, interested parties are invited to send an e-mail by 30 April 2015 to [email protected].
