MF Regulation 2024: New Rules for Assigning Identifiers and Settlement Numbers to Certain Payment Service Providers

On July 31,2024, the Regulation of the Minister of Finance on Identifiers and Settlement Numbers assigned to payment service providers and unique identifiers of payment accounts (hereinafter: “the Regulation”) came into force.

For the financial industry, and especially for payment service providers, the new regulations introduce significant changes that are worth understanding well.

What Does the Regulation Regulate?

The Regulation sets forth key aspects related to the assignment of identifiers and billing numbers, including:

• How to assign unique identifiers to payment accounts held by payment service providers.
• How to assign settlement numbers to providers that maintain payment accounts and participate in payment systems.
• The detailed scope and manner in which providers shall provide information to the National Bank of Poland (“NBP”) for the purpose of assigning settlement numbers
• The manner of assigning identifiers to suppliers and procedures related to the transmission of data to the NBP.
• The specimen of applications for assigning provider identifier and settlement number;
• The Method of publication of the list of provider identifiers and billing numbers by the NBP.

Who is affected by the Regulation?

The entities to which the new regulations apply are indicated in Article 4(2)(4)-(6), (8) and (9) of the Payment Services Act of August 19, 2011. These are:

• Electronic money institutions and their branches where the branch is located in a Member State and the electronic money institution’s head office is located outside the Member State, provided that the payment services provided by the branch are related to the issuance of electronic money.
• Branches of entities providing postal payment services in another Member State other than the Republic of Poland in accordance with the laws of that state, and Poczta Polska S.A., to the extent that separate regulations authorize it to provide payment services.
• (National) payment institutions.
• Public administration bodies.
• Cooperative savings and credit unions and the National Cooperative Savings and Credit Fund.

What Does the Regulation Cover?

The regulation governs how unique identifiers are assigned to payment accounts maintained by payment service providers. These identifiers are created in accordance with Poland’s PN-F-01102 standard, which specifies the rules for creating the Bank Account Number (NRB) in banking and related financial services.

Payment service providers who wish to obtain account numbers and a Supplier ID must notify the National Bank of Poland (NBP) accordingly. The template of the notification is attached to the Regulation.

The Regulation also establishes the principle that in case of a merger:

• Two or more payment service providers, or a merger of a provider with a domestic bank, a branch of a credit institution, or a branch of a foreign bank,
• Foreign entities that operate in Poland in the form of a branch (so-called cross-border merger),

the billing number of the acquired provider becomes the billing number of the acquiring provider.

Where can I find the text of the Regulation?

The full text of the Regulation is available online at this link: Regulation of the Minister of Finance.

Want to make sure you comply with the new requirements? Talk to our specialists and write to [email protected].