European Union: European Parliament and Council reached agreement on Payment Services Regulation for the internal market

On 27 November 2025, the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) for the internal market. The PSR aims to harmonise payment services and strengthen fraud prevention across the EU. It applies to banks, post-office giro and payment institutions, technical service providers supporting payments, and, in some cases, electronic communications providers and online platforms. The regulation requires payment service providers (PSPs) to implement fraud-prevention measures, verify that a payee’s name matches the unique identifier, refuse payments and inform the payer in case of discrepancies, ensure strong customer authentication, conduct risk assessments, offer spending limits and blocking options, and treat transactions initiated or altered by fraudsters as unauthorised, with PSP liability for the full amount. PSPs must refund the full amount in impersonation fraud if the customer reports it to the police and informs the PSP. Online platforms are liable to PSPs who reimbursed defrauded customers if the platforms are informed of fraudulent content and fail to remove it. Advertisers of financial services must show large platforms and search engines that they are legally allowed or officially exempt to offer their services. The PSR also requires human customer support, disclosure of charges before payments, and allows retail stores to provide cash withdrawals of EUR 100–150 without a purchase. The regulation reduces barriers for open banking, prevents discrimination by account-servicing PSPs, ensures access to payment account data, sets prohibited obstacles, provides a dashboard for permissions, and requires mobile device manufacturers and electronic service providers to allow front-end service providers to store and transfer data for payments on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms. It also requires participation in alternative dispute resolution.