European Central Bank calls for Europe-wide P2P mobile payments by end of 2017

Consumers will be able to make peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments across Europe using only the payee’s mobile phone number which will act as proxy for their international bank account number (IBAN) by the end of 2017, the European Central Bank (ECB) has revealed.

European Central BankThe Eurosystem, made up of the ECB and the national central banks of states whose currency is the euro, “expects the launch of a standardised look-up service that allows (person-to-person) mobile payments using the mobile phone number of the payee as a proxy for the IBAN,” Yves Mersch, member of the executive board of the ECB, said during a keynote speech at the French Payments Committee conference.

“This service should be launched by the end of 2017 and should not be restricted to national IBANs.”

At the same time, payment service providers are being encouraged by the Eurosystem to “make instant payment solutions in euro available to end users at a pan-European level from November 2017”.

Yves Mersch said that 2017 will see decisive action in three aspects. „First, payment service providers will have to deliver instant payment solutions to the end users. Second, most ACHs (automated clearing houses) will be ready to launch their instant payment clearing systems. And last but not least, the Eurosystem will decide on whether or not to provide a pan-European instant payment settlement service in central bank money to payment service providers.

Source: nfcworld.com