It is only six (!) months until 14 September 2019, the day the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) of the European Banking Authority (EBA) on Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and communication, i.e. the communication between banks and third party providers under the PSD2, must be applied. One focus of the ongoing discussions in the market is the PSD2 interfaces to be expected by then. In February I was invited to participate with other market representatives in a BaFin workshop discussing the status quo. My main conclusion: We now have to shift the last open issues from the conference table into the heads of our developers.

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figo RegShield: The first PSD2-compliant product is live in Germany

Via Passporting, the company is preparing for the Europe-wide rollout

For three months, Hamburg-based FinTech figo has been a payment institution supervised by BaFin, permitted to offer account information (AIS) and payment initiation services (PIS) – to date the only company in Germany with such authorisation. In the context of the licence, the company has been granted permission to offer a ‘licence-as-a-service’ model: figo RegShield makes it possible for partners to offer their services without having their own registration or licence from BaFin, despite PSD2. In early November 2018, the product went live, with third-party vendors already using the capabilities of RegShield and the first PSD2-compliant services in Germany being conducted with figo.
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More than two years ago I started a blog and shared my experiences with other third party service providers, what it means to adjust to the new PSD2 obligations.  Among other things, I explained in three parts from June 2016 to September 2016 what is important for the remaining preparation time until a BaFin licence application. Where do we stand now?
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Hamburg FinTech is a payment institution regulated by the BaFin in accordance with PSD2

As of 16. August 2018, it’s official: figo GmbH is now a regulated institution under the Payment Services Supervision Act (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz – ZAG), granting figo authorisation by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to provide payment initiation (PIS) and account information services (AIS), which have been regulated since the beginning of the year.

At the end of 2015, figo set its focus on fulfilling regulatory requirements as soon as the new licensing requirements for the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) became known. This licence as a payment institution is the natural consequence of a consistent focus on security, transparency and compliance. figo saw early on that the consistent rules offered by the regulation were an opportunity not only for their own business model, but for the entire industry, leveling the playing field.

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I used to write love letters and was even called an idealist when it comes to Open Banking regulation. So what has happened? Why has the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) become so painful for me lately?

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Let’s talk about how to use innovative FinTech solutions under PSD2 for the greater good for the consumer!

The guests of our 11th episode of ‘figo talks PSD2’ are Jana Koch (Head of Start-up Garage | comdirect) and Nadja Schlössel (Head of Product Strategy | figo). They focus on the effects of PSD2 from the consumer’s point of view.

What are the potential risks and opportunities, being born out of Open Banking? How will PSD2 enhance the competition and change the landscape?

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Let’s talk about how Open Banking will change the world!

In the 10th episode of ‘figo talks PSD2’ we are talking with Ashley Groom (Global Expansion | GoCardless), Duncan Barrigan (Head of Product Management | GoCardless)  and Nadja Schlössel (Head of Product Strategy | figo). Tune in and stop the confusion with different understandings of Open Banking!

We are talking about:

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With RegShield, figo plans to help third parties with new authorisation requirements

13 January 2018 was the day that the PSD2 became a reality and thus EU member states must comply. In addition to this, BaFin confirmed it on 5 December 2017 as part of the conference “Payment services in the field of digitalization and security needs”: ‘Licence as a Service’ models are basically possible under the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2)! This means: companies that offer or use payment initiation and account information services (PISP/AISP) today can also seek a regulated partner for this purpose under certain circumstances. For 2018, figo is aiming for its own payment institution licence (PISP and AISP) and plans to be a reliable ‘Licence as a Service’ partner in the market with the service product ‘RegShield’. figo partners will not have to apply for their own authorization!  (more…)

“Is there a right to credit?”, Maria Lissowska (Senior Expert, European Commission) asked at the beginning of the “Panel 3 on Credit”. Well, obviously there’s no written right to credit, but it’s also obvious that the opportunity for a credit is a big contributor to financial inclusion. However, the opportunity for a credit depends largely on the consumer’s creditworthiness. The question should therefore be in the future, how can creditworthiness be reflected by the financial reality of the credit applicant and thus promote financial inclusion?

Instead of often incomprehensible and intransparent credit scores for consumers, banking data itself provides the necessary data for the evaluation of creditworthiness. Because in the sense of data minimisation, the question should be which data is actually needed for the credit decision. Furthermore, the financial reality of a credit applicant is not correlated to market data as the basis for credit scores because every single person applying for a credit is an unique case.

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figo’s updated PSD2|RTS Progress-O-Meter (Infographic)

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