Consumers will get more protection against fraud when they make payments thanks to the Payment Services Regulation agreed on in 2025. The rules will apply from 2027.

Why it’s important

In an increasingly digital world where consumers are spending more of their time online, fraud has become increasingly prevalent. In fact, fraud has become a powerful and extremely profitable industry that keeps evolving and getting more sophisticated.

Consumers have had to pay the price for this. According to the European Banking Authority and European Central Bank, consumers lose €2,155 on average in cases of payment fraud.

Consumers have also had to bear most of the losses as they are often considered “grossly negligent”, while they were lured by very sophisticated tricks into paying.

The new rules will make Payment Services Providers (PSPs) liable for fraud losses if they fail to carry out preventive measures (like payment transaction monitoring). This puts a strong incentive on PSPs to identify and stop fraud before it happens.

The changes mean that hosting service providers - including online platforms - will also have to compensate PSPs if they fail to remove illegal scam content after becoming aware of it, and that content leads to fraudulent payment transactions. Moreover, hosting service providers will have to verify that financial services advertisers are authorised before allowing them to advertise on their platform. 

What BEUC did

BEUC was active throughout the legislative process on the Payment Services Regulation to ensure that consumers' concerns and interests were heard.

The final agreement includes important improvements in fraud prevention and consumer protection, notably stronger obligations for Payment Service Providers to detect and block suspicious transactions, clearer liability rules when those obligations are not met, and mandatory access to Alternative Dispute Resolution, contributing to better redress for victims of payment fraud.