MyBank: Creating and launching a pan-European e-authorisation solution for e-commerce transactions

E-commerce has reached critical mass and mainstream acceptance among consumers, but its potential is still hampered by the limitations of the various e-payment services available, especially in Europe. The internet may be a co­operative, borderless network where retailers can display their range to a worldwide audience, but the payment methods they depend on are all too often mistrusted by consumers, incompatible with each other and disproportionately expensive to the various participants in the payment process. With the MyBank initiative, EBA CLEARING is aiming to roll out an online banking e-authorisation solution that operates on a pan-European basis and offers equal benefit to consumers, merchants and payment service providers, including banks and payment institutions. Consumers are able to use the same payment method for e-commerce purchases anywhere in Europe, merchants are not charged interchange fees, and payment service providers, via their online banking sites, are at the centre of the process. MyBank is currently in a pilot phase and is scheduled to be launched on 25th March, 2013. This paper explains why the time is ripe for a truly pan-European OBeP offering, ie an online banking-based e-authorisation solution that works at both national and cross-border levels, what obstacles lie in the way (from regulatory uncertainty to interchange fees) and how these can be overcome. MyBank is an initiative of a private-sector company. At the heart of the initiative is the idea of a solution extending core financial services to the online payments world. MyBank gives payment service providers the opportunity to offer their customers a safe and familiar payments environment through the internet.