Paving the way for the future of payments: The reform of the EU legal framework for payments is progressing (December 2023 update)

Instant Payments

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament announced on 7 November 2023 that they had reached a political agreement on the instant payments proposal, and the final compromise text was released on 28 November 2023. The European Parliament is planning to examine this compromise text at its plenary session of 5 February 2024, which means that the Instant Payments Regulation could be adopted quickly in the first quarter of 2024.

Based on the proposed compromise text, we have prepared a note, which summarises the key obligations that will apply to payment service providers, as well as the related timelines (subject to possible amendment in the final text of the Regulation).

Payment services package

On 4 December 2023, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament released the proposed amendments to:

• The proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services in the internal markets (available here and here); and 
• The proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market (available here).