Brussels, 02/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioners Viviane Reding and Charlie McCreevy, who are responsible for the information society and the internal market respectively, have welcomed the agreement passed by the mobile telephony industry (GSMA) and payment services (EPC) with a view to stepping up the use of mobile payment services. “Voluntary industry agreements by the mobile industry are always welcome where they bring about concrete benefits for consumers”, Ms Reding said in a press release. “Bringing more competition to the payment services market has been my aim”, added Mr McCreevy. He stressed the need to involve all stakeholders in defining the standards and requirements which will result from this agreement, in order to make the process as transparent as possible.
Initially the European Payments Council and the global GSM Association will focus their efforts on drawing up a framework detailing the minimum requirements to be respected by the “trusted service manager”. This trusted service manager will support banks and mobile operators in the distribution, configuration and activation of the payment application used to make a payment from a mobile phone.
The European banking industry is currently involved in implementing the single euro payments area (SEPA) by 2010. January 2008 marked an interim step in this programme with the launch of the first compatible products such as the European transfer (see EUROPE 9590). To date, 4 350 of the 8 000 European banks in the EPC have joined SEPA. (M.B./transl.fl)