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11 de marzo de 20245 minute read

ABC Projektai (C-661/22): Court of Justice EU interprets notion of “payment services” under PSD2

The UK payments and e-money regulatory frameworks remain largely aligned with PSD2 and EMD2 currently. Given the international nature of payments business, and these common underpinnings, this decision is of interest to UK firms, although it is not binding. The FCA’s Perimeter Guidance on e-money emphasizes the importance of prepayment in distinguishing emoney. It emphasizes that “artificial features of a scheme that disguise, or try to disguise, the payment function as the supply of another sort of service are not likely to prevent the scheme from involving the issuance of electronic money” (PERG 3A.3). The FCA Perimeter Guidance also makes clear that the key is the underlying purpose of the payment account and that the distinction between payments and e-money accounts from deposits and electronic money, is where they are received “with a view to the provision of payment services” (PERG 15.2).

The Italian regulatory framework on payments and e-money remain largely aligned with PSD2 and EMD2 currently. Given the international nature of payments business, and these common underpinnings, this decision is of interest to Italian firms, although it is not binding. Local discussions on the matter mainly focused, over time, on the particularly broad definition of “payment account” which sometimes made it difficult to frame the different products offered by operators. Such wide definition currently also includes – and subject to PSD2 rules – also products such as local current accounts, which may also (but not only) be used for the execution and settlement of payment transactions, without this determining a requalification of the relevant stored funds as e-money.

Based on BaFin's administrative practice, with the requirement of the formal step of “issuing” the e-money, there should already be an explicit requirement in Germany for the act of conversion now also deemed necessary by the CJEU to qualify as e-money and, therefore, also a clear distinction between e-money and payment services in this regard. Nevertheless, we experience currently a lot of questions and to some extent legal uncertainty for payment services providers regarding the treatment of funds. Therefore, we consider further harmonisation of the EU-wide understanding of the actual and technical requirements for payment service providers, particularly with regard to the management of funds and the respective safeguarding requirements, is important and desirable.

The decision of the CJEU is aligned with the existing position of the National Bank of Belgium, which was also of the view that funds cannot be transformed “magically” into e-money when put on a payment account. This decision will nevertheless bring further clarification at EU level and will therefore be welcomed by Belgian payment institutions providing their services across the European Economic Area.

For more information or assistance with payment services and electronic money services, please contact our European Financial Services Regulatory Team.