PayPal joins European Payments Council as payments standards evolve

PayPal has joined the European Payments Council, giving the US payments group a formal position in industry discussions over the rules and standards used across the Single Euro Payments Area, according to PayPal. The move brings a company serving more than 430 million active accounts worldwide into a council whose payment schemes span 41 European countries.

The EPC is the industry body that brings together organisations involved in the rule-making, standards and infrastructure supporting European payments. PayPal said membership would allow it to contribute to work on interoperability, instant payments, fraud prevention, operational resilience and consumer payment experiences across the region.

SEPA is designed to make euro payments operate consistently across participating European markets. The EPC’s role is to maintain the scheme rules that allow payment providers and banks to process transactions under common arrangements, reducing fragmentation between national systems and helping consumers and businesses send and receive payments across borders under shared standards.

PayPal said the decision reflects its commitment to the European payments market and to the development of infrastructure used by consumers, merchants and financial institutions. The company described itself as both a regulated European bank and a global payments provider, and said those positions would inform its participation in EPC discussions.

Sean Byrne, chief executive of PayPal Europe, said in an interview with the EPC that Europe remains one of the world’s most active payments markets for innovation.

“We see ourselves as an integral part of the conversation on how European payment infrastructure evolves - and a responsibility to help shape it,” Byrne said. “We look forward to collaborating with stakeholders across the European payments ecosystem and playing a meaningful role in shaping, strengthening, and advancing the future of payments in Europe.”

The company’s entry into the EPC comes as European payment providers, banks and regulators work on faster and more interoperable account-to-account payment options, while also addressing fraud controls and the resilience of payment networks. PayPal said these topics are among the areas where EPC membership will give it a place in industry discussions.

PayPal also linked the membership to changes in digital commerce. It said consumers increasingly expect payments to function smoothly regardless of the payment rail used, while artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are changing how people find products, make choices and complete transactions.

The company said collaboration with industry partners, regulators and other European stakeholders would support efforts to build a more interoperable and trusted payments system for its customers and for Europe as an economic area.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.