BUILDING A DIGITAL EUROPE

TOGETHER

Open Banking Europe is an initiative launched by PRETA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EBA Clearing’s created in 2013 to develop and innovate market competitive services in digital payment and identity solutions.

OUR FOUR PILLARS

TRUSTED IN EU

As a subsidiary of EBA CLEARING, PRETA is part of a 20+ year long history of successfully delivering solutions together with financial institutions across Europe.

PAN-EU COVERAGE

PRETA offers reach across Europe through a strong and trusted network of business relationships.

EXPERTS IN THE MARKET

PRETA can rely on experts for interfaces, regulatory practices and on exchange with international standards bodies across Europe.

COMMUNITY LED

Design decisions are made by consensus and priority, so XS2A can follow an agreed and standardised approach.

Participants

OUR SCOPE

The term “Open Banking” generally refers to the way in which banks can make data and services available via interfaces (generally APIs) to authorised service providers or third parties who act on behalf of the customer who owns the account.

In Europe, Open Banking is promoted by the European Commission as part of a digital agenda to open up services, provide choice, and foster competition and innovation in the market.

PSD2 Access to Account (XS2A) is a mandatory regulatory component, under which all institutions that offer payment accounts, must offer access to regulated third party providers. Beyond regulatory compliance, Open Banking is also a strategic line of business.
Open Banking Europe focus is regulatory compliance, with a view to broadening the perspective of the initiative in the future.

Achieving regulatory compliance is not trivial: Institutions must be aware of the PSD2 itself, the technical standards and guidelines published by the European Banking Authority (EBA), technical concepts around APIs and certificates as well as related

regulations (eIDAS and GDPR), national transposition timelines, and national register formats.

The European Retail Payments Board (ERPB) has raised concerns regarding interoperability as well as the number of recommendations issued.

Open Banking Europe provides :

A central repository of information relating to XS2A.
A holistic overview of how the internal and external elements of an Open Banking project can fit together.
Expertise on how national regulatory data can be used between and across countries for XS2A.
Essential directory services needed to check regulatory information and to exchange operational information.

Open Banking Europe does not provide API standards or API software.

The PRETA OBE Approach

Define

SME Group Engagements & Regulatory Analysis

On behalf of OBE stakeholders, PRETA engages with:

PSP communities
Solution Providers
EC & ECB via ERPB
Member State Regulators
International Standards Bodies
Interface Design Organisations

Design

Design & Standardisation: Handbook & Miniguides

Turning complex topics into digestible formats for all PRETA OBE stakeholders to support common approaches and standardisation reviews of the PRETA OBE .

Develop

Test Data & Reference Implementations

Agile design: PRETA Open Banking Europe creates demo data, services and UI tools. All stakeholders can get access to a beta play and test version of the directory.

Decide

Community Review & Pan-EU Alignment

Continuous updates, education and group sessions ensure that all stakeholders have the same level of information and can make informed decisions.