Digital payments in the EU – Progress towards making them safer, faster, and less expensive, despite remaining gaps

Summary:

Digital payments – the electronic exchange of funds, often through mobile devices – contribute to economic growth. In 2023 alone, digital payments for retail sales in the EU exceeded €1 trillion. We examined the EU’s approach to digital payments, and in particular whether the regulatory framework sets the right conditions for safer, faster and less expensive digital payments. We found that the EU’s approach has contributed to improving the conditions for digital payments, though the framework requires further attention in some areas, most notably price interventions and account data sharing. We make several recommendations to the Commission, including to set out clear criteria for price interventions in the area of digital payments and carry out periodic reviews and to develop and implement a data monitoring strategy.

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