PSD2
PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) is the 2018 EU directive requiring banks to open their payment data via APIs to authorised third parties.
PSD2 triggered the European open banking revolution. Since 2019 banks must share customer data (with consent) via standardised APIs with licensed third parties (AIS and PIS providers). This opened markets for aggregators (Tink, Plaid Europe) and new payment experiences (payment initiation directly from your bank). PSD3 (rolling out since 2025) tightens this further and extends to cryptocurrencies.
Example
An energy comparison site shows your historical payments to energy suppliers to advise precisely — possible thanks to PSD2 account-info services. Without PSD2: manual CSV uploads.
Frequently asked questions
What is strong customer authentication (SCA)?
PSD2 requires 2FA (biometrics, device, PIN) for payments >€30. Substantially reduced fraud but added customer friction.
Related terms
Further reading
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