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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 3.11.2026 COM(2026) 610 final

2023/0209 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

concerning the

position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and

the Council on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market

amending Directive 98/26/EC and repealing Directives 2015/2366/EU and 2009/110/EC

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2023/0209 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

concerning the

position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and

the Council on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market

amending Directive 98/26/EC and repealing Directives 2015/2366/EU and 2009/110/EC

1. BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and

to the Council

(document COM(2023) 366 final – 2023/0209 (COD)

29 June 2023.

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social

Committee:

13 December 2023.

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 23 April 2024.

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: N/A.

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 28 October 2026.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION

The Commission put forward the Payment Services Package on 28 June 2023 (‘Package’) as a

result of a comprehensive review of the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The

legislative Package includes a proposal for a third Payments Services Directive (‘PSD3’) and

a Payments Services Regulation (‘PSR’), which place consumers' interests, competition,

security and trust at its center to bring payments and the wider financial sector into the digital

age. The main objective of the Package is to further improve consumer protection and

competition in electronic payments and to enable consumers to share their data in a secure

way so that they can get a wider range of better and cheaper financial products and services.

Therefore, the new rules focus on combating and mitigating payment fraud, strengthening

consumer information and rights, levelling the playing field between banks and non-bank

payment service providers, improving the functioning of open banking, better availability of

cash, strengthening harmonisation and enforcement of the rules on payments.

3. COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL

The position of the Council regarding PSD3, as adopted at first reading, fully reflects the

political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on 26

November 2025. The Commission supports that agreement. The main points of that

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agreement regarding PSD3 are the following:

• Electronic money framework harmonisation: PSD3 repeals the Electronic Money

Directive (EMD2). The integration of electronic money institutions (EMIs) into the

revised authorisation and supervisory framework applicable to payment institutions

(PIs) establishes a harmonised regulatory framework governing both categories of

institutions. The distinction between PIs and EMIs will no longer exist under PSD3

(and the PSR), as EMIs will become PIs.

• Safeguarding of payment service user funds and settlement systems: PSD3 ensures

that payment service user funds continue to be adequately protected by requiring

Member States and payment institutions (PIs) to ensure that those funds are insulated

in accordance with national law against the claims of other creditors, and the new rules

allow PIs to safeguard those funds, subject to certain conditions, in settlement

accounts of payment systems.

• Access to cash: Improving access to cash is crucial, especially in rural, remote and

under-banked regions. Therefore, PSD3 introduces a set of measures facilitating

access to cash by allowing natural or legal persons to provide cash withdrawal services

in retail stores independently of any purchase, subject to certain conditions such as

withdrawal caps, and by simplifying the rules governing the provision of cash

withdrawal services by the so-called automatic teller machines’ deployers who do not

service payment accounts nor provide any other payment services.

4. CONCLUSION

The Commission supports the results of the interinstitutional negotiations and can therefore

accept the Council’s position at first reading.