24 PSPs to support pan-European Request-to-Pay infrastructure by EBA CLEARING

The announcement followed a user consultation on an R2P blueprint created by a dedicated EBA CLEARING task force from November 2018 to March 2019. As the blueprint had been well-received, a call for action was initiated in April 2019 to rally the necessary support for the development of the proposed solution.

The EBA CLEARING blueprint sets out a thin-layer infrastructure solution that will be based on real-time messaging and separated both from the services solutions and payment infrastructure layers. The solution is aimed at accommodating both existing and future Request-to-Pay end-user products and services, regardless of the underlying use case. To this effect, it is expected to allow both ‘Approve Now’ and ‘Approve Later’ responses from the payer.

Request-to-Pay is considered as a key element in an evolving payments landscape shaped by developments such as open banking and real-time payments. Request to Pay solutions can increase certainty, transparency, and convenience of payment processes by speeding up the end-to-end process and easing reconciliation.

Scheme-related work on the Request-to-Pay functionality is ongoing at the level of the European Payments Council (EPC). EBA CLEARING contributes to these efforts as part of the Request-To-Pay Multi-Stakeholder Group of the EPC and intends to align its solution to the EPC work.