Customer Experience Guidelines

Payment Initiation Services

This version is:

Published 2 years ago 31 Mar 2021

One 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 and illustrated 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.

1FCA consultation on updated Approach to RTS and EBA guidelines under revised PSD2 and CEG Checklist Reference

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 PISP1.[1]

Single Domestic Payments

Account selection at PISP

User Journey     PSUs can initiate, by providing their consent to PISPs, an instruction to their ASPSPs to make a one-off payment for a specific amount to a specific payee. Where all information for a complete payment order (including the PSUs’ account details) is passed from PISPs to ASPSPs, once PSUs have been authenticated,…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Account Selection at PISP – Supplementary Info

ASPSPs’ journeys may be required to display supplementary information to PSUs. Parity should be maintained between open banking journeys and ASPSPs’ online channel journeys. If supplementary information is not provided to PSUs within the ASPSPs’ online channels, then it must not be provided during an open banking PIS journey.

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Single Domestic Payments – BACS and CHAPS

ASPSPs’ journeys may be required to display supplementary information to PSUs. Parity should be maintained between open banking journeys and ASPSPs’ online channel journeys. If supplementary information is not provided to PSUs within the ASPSPs’ online channels, then it must not be provided during an open banking PIS journey.

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Account Selection at ASPSP

User Journey     There are cases where the payment order submitted by PISPs to ASPSPs is incomplete, such as where the PSU’s account selection has not yet occurred. In these scenarios, OBIE considers that SCA only needs to be obtained once, as part of the initial interaction between ASPSPs and the PSU. The fact…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Scheduled Payments – Future Dated

User Journey     PSUs can setup, through PISPs, an instruction to their ASPSPs to make a one-off payment for a specific amount to a specific payee on a specific future date. The example reference journey illustrates account selection occurring in the PISP domain. However, please note that account selection can take place at the ASPSP…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Other Payments

Standing Orders

User Journey     PSUs can setup, through PISPs, an instruction to their ASPSPs to make a series of payments of a specific amount to a specific payee on a number of specified future dates or on a regular basis. The example reference journey illustrates account selection occurring in the PISP domain. However, please note…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

International Payments

User Journey     PSUs can initiate, through PISPs, single international payments from their GBP or foreign currency payment accounts. Payments can be made in any currency and to any country, using a number of routing options in order to meet the priority required, provided that functionality is available to PSUs when making international payments…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Bulk / Batch Payments

User Journey     Business PSUs can initiate, through PISPs, bulk/batch payments allowing them to make multiple payments from their payment accounts. The authentication approach used in this journey replicates journey Domestic Payments – Supplementary info, where there is supplementary information to be displayed. If the payment order is incomplete, then the principles of journey Single…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Multi-authorisation Payments

User Journey     PSUs can setup, through PISPs, payments which require multiple parties with delegated user authority to authorise a payment order. This functionality can be used by ASPSPs for any payment initiation that requires multiple authorities (including consumers, SMEs and Corporates). The authentication approach used in this journey replicates journey Single Domestic Payments…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Confirmation of Funds for PISP – Y/N Response

Process Flow   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. ASPSPs must respond to such request from a PISP with an immediate ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ confirmation and should take into account the same information (e.g. balance, agreed overdraft, incoming…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Payment Refunds

User Journey     In cases where the PSU selects their account at the ASPSP as shown in the journey Single Domestic Payments – a/c selection @ ASPSP, the PISP may not be able to obtain the PSU’s account details (sort code and account number) from the PSU directly within their consent journey. This could create challenges…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

Variable Recurring Payments

VRP Payments with an SCA exemption

  VRPs are defined as a series of payments initiated by a PISP using a long-held consent (“VRP Consent”), where: the VRP Consent must be authorised by the Payment Service User (“PSU”) via Strong Customer Authentication (“SCA”) at their ASPSP (“VRP Consent Setup”), however, each individual payment instructed (“VRP Payment”) using the VRP Consent does…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

VRP Payments under Sweeping Access

    VRP Payments under sweeping access are a subset of VRP payments with SCA exemption that also has additional constraints: 1. Requires the PISP to attest that the activity meets the standardised definition of sweeping. 2. Requires the use of a specific set of sweeping consent parameters. 3. Requires the application of the ‘Trusted…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

VRP Payments with delegated SCA

  VRPs are defined as a series of payments initiated by a PISP using a long-held consent (“VRP Consent”), where: the VRP Consent must be authorised by the Payment Service User (“PSU”) via Strong Customer Authentication (“SCA”) at their ASPSP (“VRP Consent Setup”), however, each individual payment instructed (“VRP Payment”) using the VRP Consent does…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

VRP Consent Dashboard & Revocation

User Journey   PISPs must provide PSUs with a facility to view and revoke VRP consent(s) that they have given to that PISP. PSUs may have agreed to several VRP consents for different ASPSPs with a single PISP. This section describes how these consents should be displayed and how the customer journey to revoke them…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021

VRP – Access Dashboard & Revocation

User Journey     ASPSPs must provide PSUs with a facility to view and revoke variable recurring payment access that they have given to any PISP for each account held at that ASPSP. This section describes how PISP’s variable recurring payment access should be displayed and how the customer journey to revoke them should be…

This version was published 2 Years & 11 Months ago 31 Mar 2021