Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB), a retail payments watchdog, is set to establish two different panels to overlook mobile and other electronics payment methods, as part of European Union payment integration initiative – Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).
The two groups planned during the first meeting of the board will tackle post-migration issues for the new Sepa credit and direct debit instruments, and the development of European electronic mandate initiatives for Sepa direct debits.
The ERPB introduced by the European Central Bank in December 2013, to manage the integration process, comprises seven representatives from demand side formed of retailers and corporations, and seven representatives from supply side formed of banks and payment and e-money institutions.
Meanwhile, the watchdog is also outlining draft mandates for ‘mobile payments and innovative payments’ to support the businesses to be launched in the future.
Also, the board will undertake a stock-taking research on the implementation of payment cards standardization, with plans to address the practical implementation issues at its next meeting.
The ERPB said that credit transfer domain’s migration to the Sepa schemes is into its final stages, however the migration of direct debit still has pending tasks in a few countries by the extended 1 August 2014 deadline.
The board, nevertheless, asked stakeholders to conclude the migration to Sepa payment instruments at the earliest and within the deadline.
