Links between retail payment systems in the EU: Call for standardisation

Abstract

This paper discusses aspects of the links between retail payment systems, the regulatory framework for this linkage, aspects of the necessity of this linkage, and established practice in this area. It focuses in particular on whether the same legalities apply in the retail payment systems market as in the payment services market, where an environment has been or is being established in which payment service users are able to execute retail payments efficiently, and have the possibility to choose their payment services provider based on the quality of services and price. A specific feature of the retail payment systems market is that there is cooperation alongside the competition. Linkage between retail payment systems is the key to the development of a single market in payment services, and two different types of links have been established in practice, although there are no significant differences between them from a business point of view. This paper also discusses the issue of the two different types of links between retail payment systems, and gives a comparison of these two types, in particular from the point of view of meeting the expectations of the Eurosystem. As a specific example of links between retail payment systems, it examines the links between Slovenian retail payment systems and other retail payment systems.