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PSD 2: a lot of opportunities but also big challenges (Part I)
| 26-1-2017 | François de Witte |
By that date the member states must have adopted and published the measures necessary to implement it into their national law.
PSD 2
PSD2 will cause important changes in the market and requires a thorough preparation. In this article, we are summarizing the measures and highlighting the impact on the market participants. In today’s Part I we will focus on abbreviations and main measurers introduced by PSD2.
List of abbreviations used in this article
2FA : Two-factor authentication
AISP : Account Information Service Provider
API : Application Programming Interface
ASPSP : Account Servicing Payment Service Provider
EBA : European Banking Authority
EBF : European Banking Federation
EEA : European Economic Area
PISP : Payment Initiation Service Provider
PSD1: Payment Services Directive 2007/64/EC
PSD2 : Revised Payment Services Directive (EU) 2015/2366
PSP : Payment Service Provider
PSU: Payment Service User
RTS : Regulatory Technical Standards (to be issued by the EBA)
SCA : Strong Customer Authentication
TPP : Third Party Provider
Main Measures introduced by PSD2:
The PSD2 expands the reach of PSD1, to the following payments:
A second important measure is the creation of the Third Party Providers (TPP). One of the main aims of the PSD2 is to encourage new players to enter the payment market and to provide their services to the PSU (Payment Service Users). To this end, it creates the obligation for the ASPSP (Account Servicing Payment Service Provider – mainly the banks) to “open up the bank account” to external parties, the so-called, third-party account access. These TPP (Third Party Providers) are divided in two types:
· AISP (Account Information Service Provider) : In order to be authorized, an AISP is required to hold professional indemnity insurance and be registered by their member state and by the EBA. There is no requirement for any initial capital or own funds. The EBA (European Banking Authority) will publish guidelines on conditions to be included in the indemnity insurance (e.g. the minimum sum to be insured), although it is as yet unknown what further conditions insurers will impose.
· PISP (Payment Initiation Service Providers): PISPs are players that can initiate payment transactions. This is an important change, as currently there are not many payment options that can take money from one’s account and send them elsewhere. The minimum requirements for authorization as a PISP are significantly higher. In addition to being registered, a PISP must also be licensed by the competent authority, and it must have an initial and on-going minimum capital of EUR 50,000.
Banks will have to implement interfaces, so they can interact with the AISPs and PISPs. However, payment initiation service providers will only be able to receive information from the payer’s bank on the availability of the funds on the account which results in a simple yes or no answer before initiating the payment, with the explicit consent of the payer. Account information service providers will only receive the information explicitly consented by the payer and only to the extent the information is necessary for the service provided to the payer. This compliance with PSD2 is mandatory and all banks will have to make changes to their infrastructure deployments.
Source: PA Perspectives on Nordic Financial Services
http://www.paconsulting.com/our-thinking/perspectives-on-nordic-financial-services.
A third important change is the obligation for the Payment Service Providers to place the SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) for electronic payment transactions based in at least 2 different sources (2FA: Two-factor authentication) :
The EBA (European Banking Authority will provide further guidance on this notion in a later stage. It remains to be seen whether the current bank card with pin code is sufficient to qualify as “strong customer authentication”. This “strong customer authentication” needs to take place with every payment transaction. EBA will also be able to provide exemptions based on the risk/amount/recurrence/payment channel involved in the payment service (e.g. for paying the toll on the motorway or the parking).
PSD2 also introduces some other measures:
In a second article soon to be published on treasuryXL, François de Witte will focus on the impact PSD2 has on market participants.
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Managing treasury risk : Risk Management (Part I)
| 23-1-2017 | Lionel Pavey |
There are lots of discussions concerning risk, but let us start by trying to define what we mean by risk.
It is a negative event that can potentially lead to loss or liability; it is exposure to uncertainty; it is a deviation from the expected outcome. It can be caused by people, changes in the law, products used in day-to-day activity to facilitate the business. Risk is not an uncertainty – it is a “known unknown”
Risk arises in every activity of a company and, therefore, a procedure of risk assessment has to be determined within a company and controls implemented. We can conclude that a risk management policy is a crucial part of the risk management function. The policy provides a framework – and details the framework – for decision making, whilst adhering to the company’s agreed viewpoint on risk.
Risk Management
A risk management policy can be very extensive as it relates to all risks faced by a company – we shall only focus on the risk relating to treasury operations. Treasury risk policy should be developed by the Treasury department, together with management, and approved by the board of directors. Once approved and implemented, the policy should be regularly reviewed and amended to ensure that it effectively meets the changing risks as the company advances.
Core criteria
The core criteria for undertaking the policy include:
Strategic components
Strategic components related to the policy include:
Major treasury related risks that shall be discussed in my next articles include:
A search through Google will show more risks, but we are attempting to show and discuss the main types of risk in treasury operations.
In the rest of the series, we shall elaborate on the above 6 major treasury related risk categories.
“Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing” – Warren Buffett
Lionel Pavey
Cash Management and Treasury Specialist
More articles from this author:
Safety of Payments
The treasurer and data
The impact of negative interest rates
How long can interest rates stay so low?
Het belang van de basiskennis van delivery terms en betalingsinstrumenten in een organisatie
| 20-1-2017 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL
Al een tijdje geleden leverde Ger van Rosmalen dit boeiende verhaal en wij delen het graag met jullie, omdat het nog steeds actueel is. Het maakt eens te meer duidelijk dat goede communicatie tussen afdelingen in het belang van de hele organisatie is en hierin investeren geen overbodige luxe.
Daarnaast is het zeer zinvol dat niet alleen de verkoop-afdeling een goede basiskennis heeft van delivery terms en betalingsinstrumenten, maar ook de andere afdelingen in de verkoopketen en dat ook regelmatig uitgewisseld wordt met de treasury.
De treasury-afdeling van een bedrijf dekt een koersrisico af voor de levering van machines aan een afnemer in Turkije. De betaling is op 60 dagen na factuurdatum en de afnemer heeft een limiet onder de kredietverzekering. Afdeling sales heeft de machines verkocht met als delivery term (EXW) Ex Works. De afnemer stuurt een vrachtauto om de machines op te halen maar bij het laden gaat er iets verkeerd en valt één machine van de vorkheftruck en wordt total loss verklaard. Omdat de tweede machine alleen maar kan werken met combinatie met de andere machine die nu total loss is verklaard, weigert de afnemer te betalen.
Wellicht had de treasury-afdeling dit contract eerder kunnen rescontreren maar nu liep het contract tot de einddatum en volgde er geen betaling. De afdeling treasury werd niet geïnformeerd over dit probleem. De partijen zijn in een juridisch gevecht terecht gekomen want het laden van de vrachtauto blijkt door eigen personeel te zijn gedaan. EXW wil zeggen dat de chauffeur van de afnemer de machines zelf had moeten laden maar vaak, hoe goed bedoeld ook, doen de collega’s van het magazijn dit. In principe gaat het risico over van verkoper op koper bij EXW op het moment dat de machines van hun plek worden gehaald. Laden de magazijnmedewerkers de producten zelf dan had een andere delivery term afgesproken moeten worden namelijk FCA Free Carrier.
Bovenstaande situatie toont aan dat het belangrijk is om niet alleen de afdeling sales maar ook andere afdelingen basiskennis mee te geven van delivery terms en betalingsinstrumenten. Daarnaast is het van groot belang om de afdelingen sales, logistiek, finance, treasury en credit regelmatig met elkaar in gesprek te laten zijn (en te laten blijven), dat maakt dat iedereen attent is op risico’s die ook buiten hun eigen aandachtsgebied liggen. Je hebt tenslotte toch allemaal een gezamenlijk belang binnen een bedrijf?
Trade Finance Specialist