Berlin Group launches Public Market Consultation on NextGenPSD2 Standard

On 2 October 2017, The Berlin Group will launch a 6-weeks public market consultation on its NextGenPSD2 Access to Accounts (XS2A) Standard that enables Third Party Providers (TPPs) to access bank accounts under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

Following market consultation, the Berlin Group aims to publish the first final version of the standard before the end of 2017. Public market consultation is further supported by a NextGenPSD2 Conference to be held in Berlin on 25 October 2017.

As the European financial industry opens up access to account information under PSD2, the NextGenPSD2 Standard offers a modern, open, harmonised and interoperable set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as the safest and most efficient way to provide data securely. The NextGenPSD2 Standard reduces XS2A complexity, addresses the problem of multiple competing standards in Europe and, aligned with the goals of the Euro Retail Payments Board, enables European banking customers to benefit from innovative products and services (‘Banking as a Service’) by granting TPPs safe and secure (authenticated and authorised) access to their bank accounts and financial data. The APIs support the PSD2 required account information (AIS), payment issuer instrument (PIIS) and payment initiation (PIS) services and are built on RESTful, OAuth2 and JSON standards, relying on ISO20022 standards for the data elements to be exchanged.

The Berlin Group believes that open and harmonised PSD2 XS2A interface standards for processes, data and infrastructures are the necessary building blocks of an open, interoperable market. True interoperability is an essential component of competitive pan-European PSD2 XS2A services that will contribute to further progress towards the European Single Market and benefit the payments industry as well as European consumers and businesses alike.

A public and transparent market consultation is deemed a critical
additional contribution to the development of mature standards that are
aligned with market requirements and applicable legislations and
regulations.

The NextGenPSD2 Standard will be available for download on the Berlin Group website (www.berlin-group.org/market-consultations) on 2 October 2017, and consultation finishes on Friday 17 November 2017. All contributions received will be published following the close of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.