Payment services

Your business challenges

Companies across the payments industry face a range of urgent and complex challenges. There is pressure to innovate and enhance products through the harnessing of data, thanks to intensifying competition and disruption caused by the rise of open banking and embedded finance.

Regulatory scrutiny is increasing. Outdated technology platforms cannot meet today’s requirements for highly resilient, digitally responsive and immediate payments services, and regulations are playing catch-up with innovation.

For any firm seeking to drive growth and innovation through payments, these challenges represent significant barriers to success. For payments suppliers, who face the most significant threats to their customer relationships and existing revenue streams, solving these challenges is imperative. Defending their market position by delivering effective payments services requires explicit strategies, fully modern technology platforms, and the right people and teams – all of them aligned and energized by a unified go-to-market approach.

For the consumers of payments services, continual innovation is necessary to ensure that payments fit seamlessly within intuitive and personalized customer experiences. That requires a clear understanding of existing payments capabilities and a careful evaluation of vendors. Most importantly, a robust data strategy is necessary to manage and optimize their payments acceptance and to further monetize the data they generate.

What EY payments teams can do for you

• Regulatory compliance: EY’s payment team has a solid track record of advising clients regarding EU and international payment regulations:
  • Payment Services Directives: Since the entry into force of PSD1 and subsequently PSD2, EY Luxembourg has conducted multiple gap assessments to identify areas of improvements and support clients in the implementation of changes to their operating model. With PSD3/PSR and the Instant Payments Regulation just around the corner, regulatory compliance is a hot topic.
  • Personal Data Protection: Banks and payment FinTechs hold data of extreme sensitivity. Thus, being compliant with EU regulations, especially GDPR , is of critical importance. EY Luxembourg offers impact assessments regarding failure to ensure the data privacy of customers. EY also supports clients in designing a data privacy system.
  • Outsourcing: EY Luxembourg holds solid expertise in the field of outsourcing of compliance functions for banks and payment institutions. EY Luxembourg can assist clients in this difficult process, thanks to its knowledge of the specificities of local companies as well as its global network.
• Regulatory reporting: Still on the regulatory side, EY Luxembourg has substantial experience in the fields of CDDP6 (payment statistics and fraud reporting), ensuring that clients remain compliant with the EBA guidelines and BCL requirements.
• PI/FISP licensing support: EY Luxembourg has a great track record of supporting financial and non-financial firms in acquiring EMI and PI licenses. From strategy definition and business plan preparation to outsourcing and governance, we support applicants in drafting and filing their application with the CSSF to operate in the EU Payments market.
• Operational transformation: With the next Instant Payments Regulation, payment players are looking to transform their operating model to increase the speed of transactions and to benefit from operational efficiencies and cost saving opportunities. EY Luxembourg supports its clients in assessing and updating the operating model to join payment market infrastructure (T2, TIPS and STEP2) as well as benefit from new technologies (ISO20022, automated screening of transactions, digital assets, etc.).
• ISO 20022 migration is a major transformation initiative that will impact financial and non-financial institutions alike. We help clients develop business strategies to comply with and harness this new standard. Our service offerings span business and strategy, technology, and innovation, as well as compliance, risk, and regulations.
• Cybersecurity: As security in the cyberspace has become more critical than ever, it is essential for private companies to develop adequate defenses to protect their internal and client data. EY Luxembourg is at the forefront of this challenge, with a solid track record in defending banks and FinTechs’ sensitive data, as well as reviewing Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) methodologies. Our cybersecurity team also offers Pen-Testing to identify the weaknesses in our clients’ systems. 
• Audit innovation: EY’s world-renowned expertise in the field of audit can be of great assistance to banking and payment clients in Luxembourg. Our deep penetration of the Luxembourg market coupled with EY’s global reach allows us to provide best-in-class as well as objective assistance in external and internal audit processes.
• Blockchain: EY Luxembourg is active in the blockchain technology market, serving Luxembourg payment institutions, e-money institutions, and digital asset service providers on a range of assurance, consulting and tax projects. The Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCAR) is meant to tame down a volatile and speculative crypto market and better protect investors’ interests. With a robust and harmonized regulation around crypto-assets, traditional financial players and new actors are looking for support and guidance in navigating this new compliance journey.