How Keytrade Bank is leading the way in PSD2 compliance

Keytrade Bank will be the first Belgian bank to implement the 180-day Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) exemption to access bank account information. This move will allow Keytrade Bank’s customers to enjoy uninterrupted access to their account information for longer periods, making those consultations a lot more user friendly.

Today, users need to reauthorize access to their bank accounts every 90 days, which was seen as an inconvenience. Additionally, the reauthorization period currently differs from bank to bank, with some requiring a Strong Customer Authentication every 24 hours… Not the ideal experience for the end-user. 

As Isabel Group we are also active within the PSD2 domain with API solutions such as Ponto. We noticed that our business customers who want to automate finance processes perceived this 90-day reauthentication as a burden. When the customer does not reauthorize the account in due time, the connection with the bank is cut off. The customer’s financial data is no longer fetched by the customer’s software (the Third Party Provider or TPP). Our software partners encounter technical errors due to the loss of connection and are of course contacted by the end-user. They have to repeatedly explain the cause of the service interruption as it is not clear for the end-user where the actual issue lies. The fact that the banks automatically interrupt the service, negatively impacts the image of the software partner. There is even a risk that the customer will ask the software partner for reimbursement of the service fees. 

It is the European Banking Authority (EBA) who made this amendment to the Regulatory Technical Standards of PSD2 last year to expand the 90 days to 180 days if certain conditions are met. Doubling this period reduces the administrative burden for customers and improves their overall user experience. Now all EU banks will have to apply the same rules for the account information service.

In light of Keytrade Bank’s initiative, we invite other Belgian and European banks to follow suit and implement this new amendment swiftly.

Where can you find the new amendment?

The new articles 10a of the PSD2 Access to Accounts will become applicable from 25 July 2023, and all EU banks are expected to have implemented them by this date.

You can find more about this amendment at EUR-Lex at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R2360.