Reauthorization of payments institutions in Poland

On 20^thof June, 2018, with a very short 14-day vacatio legis, the amendment to the act on payment services entered into force. The amendment is important for at least two reasons. First of all, it is the long-awaited implementation into the Polish legal order of the European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (the so-called PSD2 Directive). Secondly, it raises on the side of all national payment institutions (hereinafter: NPI) the obligation to make the so-called reauthorization, that is, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), that the activity of NPI was adjusted to the provisions of the amended of payment services act, and thus to the requirements of the PSD2 Directive and delegated regulation of Commission (EU) 2018/389 of 27^thof November 2017.

Reauthorization

The reauthorization consists of submitting extensive documentation to the FSC, including in particular:

• procedures for the monitoring, proceeding and undertaking follow up activities related to security incidents and customer complaints about security,
• a procedure for documenting, monitoring, tracking and limiting access to sensitive payment data,
• a description of solutions ensuring business continuity,
• rules and definitions applicable to the collection of statistics on results, transactions and fraud,
• security policy,
• a description of internal control mechanisms consistent with the obligations related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

An important problem in the performance of the reauthorization obligation is the lack of implementing regulations to the payment services act, in particular the lack of an updated regulation on the detailed scope of information and the type and form of documents attached to the motion for a license to operate as a national payment institution. In this stalemate, the FSC issued a recommendation on 23^rdof August suggesting the NPI that in the scope of reauthorization it would use the relevant EBA / EUNB guidelines.

Deadline and sanctions

As the deadline for reauthorization expires on 20^thof September 2018, today we invite you to contact the Law Office, which provides servicesin the field of reauthorization of national payment institutions. What is crucial, in the event of failure to comply with the obligation to adapt business to the provisions of the amended payment services act, the FSC revokes the license to conduct business as a national payment institution.