Customer Experience Guidelines
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Published 3 years ago 04 Apr 2022One of the primary ambitions of the Customer Experience Guidelines is to provide simplification and consistency throughout each stage of the Open Banking implementation. As such, we have defined a core set of payment initiation journeys.
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Open Banking API specifications support Payment Initiation Services (PIS) that enable a PISP to initiate a payment order, with the PSU’s explicit consent, from their online payment account held at their ASPSP. The PISP is then further able to retrieve the status of a payment order. This section describes how each of the Participants (PISPs and ASPSPs) in the delivery of these services can optimise the customer experience for these services. Furthermore, it provides some clarifications to these Participants on the usage of the APIs which are not covered by the technical specifications, and some best practice guidelines for implementation of the customer journeys.
Please note that ASPSPs do not need to support the initiation of certain payment methods described in this section by a PISP, where the ASPSP does not support such transactions through any of their own online channels (such as future dated foreign transactions and bulk payment files).
If the customer is able to initiate, for example, international payments, recurring transactions or a batch file of payments online, they should also be able to do so via a PISP, irrespective of the channel the customer has used to access the PISP.[1]
1FCA consultation on updated Approach to RTS and EBA guidelines under revised PSD2 and CEG Checklist Reference
Single Domestic Payments
Account Selection at PISP
Where all information for a complete payment order is passed from PISPs to ASPSPs, once authenticated, PSUs must be directed back to the PISP domain without any further steps taking place in the ASPSP domain.
Account Selection at PISP – Supplementary Info
In some scenarios, an additional step in ASPSPs' journeys may be required to display supplementary information to PSUs. ASPSPs should determine the situations where this supplementary information is required, having regard to the principle that parity should be maintained between Open Banking journeys and ASPSPs’ online channel journeys.
BACS and CHAPS
In some scenarios, an additional step in ASPSPs' journeys may be required to display supplementary information to PSUs. ASPSPs should determine the situations where this supplementary information is required, having regard to the principle that parity should be maintained between Open Banking journeys and ASPSPs’ online channel journeys.
Account Selection at ASPSP
Open Banking Ltd (OBL) considers that SCA only needs to be obtained once, as part of the initial interaction between ASPSPs and the PSU. The fact that the PSU has to then carry out account selection or provide other information does not invalidate the SCA just performed by the ASPSP.
Scheduled Payments – Future Dated
Through a PISP the PSUs can setup an instruction to their ASPSP to make a one-off payment for a specified amount to a specified payee – on a specified future date.
Other Payments
Standing Orders
Through a PISP, PSUs can setup an instruction to their ASPSPs to make a series of payments of a specified amount to a specified payee on a number of specified future dates or on a regular basis.
International Payments
From a PISP, PSUs can initiate single international payments from their GBP or foreign currency payment accounts. Payments can be made in any currency and to any country.
Bulk / Batch Payments
Business PSUs can initiate, through PISPs, bulk/batch payments allowing them to make multiple payments from their payment accounts.
Multi-authorisation Payments
Through PISPs, PSUs can setup payments which require multiple parties with delegated user authority to authorise payment orders. This functionality can be used by ASPSPs for any payment initiation that requires multiple authorities
Confirmation of Funds for PISPs
PISPs can request confirmation of funds on a PSU's payment account for the amount necessary for the execution of the payment transaction initiated through the PISP.
Payment Refunds
When the PSU provides their explicit consent to the PISP to initiate a payment order; the PSU also provides permission for the PISP to request their account details from their ASPSP for the purposes of providing a future refund.
Variable Recurring Payments
VRP Payments with SCA exemption
VRP Payments instructed under a VRP Consent with Consent Parameters that qualify for an SCA Exemption such that, following successful VRP Consent Setup, subsequent individual VRP Payments can be made without further authorisation from the PSU.
VRP Payments under Sweeping Access
VRP Payments under sweeping access are a subset of VRP payments with SCA exemption that also has additional constraints.
VRP Payments with delegated SCA
VRP Payments initiated by a PISP that do not rely on the application of an SCA exemption by the ASPSP, but rather the application of delegated SCA to each individual VRP Payment. This provides explicit consent for each payment instruction, dynamically linking the amount and a payee, allowing for flexibility on the VRP Consent Parameters.