Limited impact of PSD2 in the world of cash and cards - a FinTech payments startup perspective

Let’s face it. PSD2 was designed to be a revolutionary initiative in the European financial sector. European Commission Fact Sheet describes PSD2’s ambition as to “facilitate innovation, competition and efficiency” and that “It will give consumers more and better choice in the EU retail payment market”. However, the reality of current situation is evident - the impact of PSD2 will be limited. If nobody listened to what Fintechs had to say years ago, maybe Deutsche Bank’s whitepaper on PSD2 API standardisation will change the perception of what needs to be fixed in order for PSD2 to succeed. I am afraid that such appeal might come too late. As a consequence of such implementation, PSD2 will most likely bring significant benefits only to the selected (biggest) global players, putting commercial banks in a position where they will have to struggle really hard not to lose their existing non-interest income.