The European Court of Auditors has raised concerns over how the EU goes about price interventions in the card market and its approach to open banking data sharing.
Digital payments for retail sales in the EU more than doubled in value between 2017 and 2023, surpassing €1 trillion.
These digital payments are considered crucial for the EU’s internal market to function smoothly, especially across borders, meaning that the body has responsibility for ensuring that they operate efficiently and effectively.
In a report, the European Court of Auditors says that EU’s approach to digital payments has helped to make them "safer, faster and cheaper for users".
However, the report raises concerns about the EU's approach to price interventions when it comes to the interchange fee cap for card payments and the surcharge ban on card and Sepa payments.
Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz, ECA Member in charge of the audit, says: “We found that the basic legal acts on digital payments do not stipulate clear criteria for assessing whether price interventions are justified, or how long they should apply. There are also no requirements for periodic reviews.
“For some of the interventions linked to card payments, the European Commission could not demonstrate that the positive effects for consumers clearly outweigh the negative ones.”
In addition, the impact of the EU’s digital-payment policies remains largely unknown because the Commission has not put in place an effective monitoring system and, more importantly, lacks access to the relevant data, says the report.
Elsewhere, the court queries the EU’s open banking framework's obligation on firms to provide third-party providers with access to payment user data free of charge. This, "may discourage account data holders from providing high-quality service".
The report also flags the lack of standardised APIs, hindering third-party providers from using those data.