January 13, 2018 marked the official entry into force of the PSD2, the new European electronic payments directive. Now that a few months have passed since its introduction, we can start to take stock of the situation for consumers and see whether or not there have been any real changes in the daily lives of people who want to make digital payments.
Francesco Maldari, Sisal Group Payments and Services Manager, talked to the TV programme "I vostri soldi" [Your Money] about the novelties introduced by the PSD2. The PSD2 opens up the service market to new operators who will act as intermediaries between banks and end consumers, and also introduces a revolutionary new service feature, or the possibility of initiating a payment with a third party operator rather than a home banking account and of defining a user experience that is radically different from the traditional approach.
The PSD2, though, is only the start of a long-term structured process, with the first real changes being introduced only late in 2019. In the meantime, Sisal Group’s goal is to facilitate the transition of consumers to a new cashless culture.
The SisalPay brand serves about 13 million consumers every year, through a network of over 40,000 participating retailers and, in this sense, explains Maldari, “it is in a prime position to facilitate a gradual transition from the use of traditional tools to innovative ones, helping consumers come to terms with digitalization”.
