The European Payment Institutions Federation (EPIF) is an international non-profit association. It was founded in June 2011, in response to the adoption of the Payment Services Directive (PSD).
The PSD established a new category of payment service providers (payment institutions) to encourage more competition at the European level. Payment institutions are permitted to provide payment services alongside banks and other financial institutions. By means of a European passport available to them under the PSD, payment institutions can offer payment products and services across borders, thus making it attractive for European consumers to pay and receive funds within as well as outside their home country. We also have members who are institutions with a banking license, where the company only or predominantly uses this license for payment services.
The payment institutions sector is currently growing fast.
However, since its inception it had been faced with the following challenges:
Payment institutions were not participating in EU working groups and decision-making bodies.
They did not have a single voice or a clear message.
Their representation at EU level was not formalised.
There was a lack of understanding of payment institutions sector amongst EU policy makers.
Our priorities for the remainder of the legislative term are:
PSD2 Review
AML/CTF Package
Digital Euro
Data Privacy
For more information, follow the link to our FAQs.
Since succeeding in addressing some of these challenges, EPIF’s focus has somewhat changed. It now acts as a forum to exchange views, form common positions, exchange best practice and provide a wealth of information to its members and a wider audience. Among its other functions, EPIF regularly meets with other stakeholders in the EU standard setting process on payments (banks, merchants, users and regulators) and actively reflects the diverse membership of the Federation in these discussions.