LISBON AGENDA
The EU wants a Single Market competitive with the world’s major economies such as the USA, Japan, China etc. The payments market is fragmented, there are lots of national schemes - for cards, payments and direct debits.
This is seen as an inhibitor to cross-border trade and the emergence of a genuine “EU-domestic” Single Market.
The EU wants harmonisation, reduced cost, better ease-of-use, and increased competition.
It has demanded SEPA – the Single Euro Payments Area - from the banking industry: a set of new Schemes and supporting infrastructure to replace what exists now. It is supplemented by PSD – the Payment Services Directive: to govern the bank-customer relationship, increasing the customer’s rights of redress, and permit a new type of competitor: the Payment Institution.
