Regulation of payment services

The ever-increasing perimeter of payment services-specific rules adopted, in recent years, in jurisdictions across the globe bear testimony to the constant growth of regulatory interest in the activities of payment service providers. This interest is inter alia attributable to the fact that, essential as they are, payment services also expose their providers and recipients alike to certain risks: for the former, these include the risk of the insolvency and/or illiquidity of other financial intermediaries along the payment chain and, for the latter, the risks arising from fraud, breaches of privacy or abusive pricing practices. This chapter provides an outline of the law and regulation governing the provision of (non-cash) payment services, including money transfers and remittances, merchant acquiring and card payments, by payment service providers in select jurisdictions. While the focus of this chapter is on the main payment services-related rules applicable in the EU, the rules applicable in the UK and the US will also be touched on, for comparative reasons, but at a higher level of abstraction.