Which Legislation for the Newcomers on the Payments Market?

Olivier GUERSENT ** Director General, European Commission, Directorate-General for Competition – DG COMP. Contact: Olivier.Guersent@ec.europa.eu. The authors wish to acknowledge the important contributions of Paulina Dejmek-Hack and John Golden to this article.

The payments industry is changing. This activity that was still reserved to banks a few years ago opened in recent years to new players, the so called payment service providers. Continuous innovation and digitization of the economy are once again shaking the market. Not only new competitors continue to appear on the market by attacking activities that banks used to monopolize, but in addition, new technologies are changing payments. Mobile payment, peer-to-peer, instant payments are revolutions that the market will have to integrate in the coming years. The legal framework had to adapt and allow new players to enter this market to make it even more competitive. The card market is not left apart, also covered by legislation that sets up a number of rules to make it more competitive.