site.btaNew Payment Services and Payment Systems Bill to Go Before Parliament for First Reading Shortly

Sofia, November 21 (BTA) - The National Assembly will shortly open a first-reading debate on a new Payment Services and Payment Systems Bill proposed by the Council of Ministers. The news was broken by Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Deputy Governor Nina Stoyanova at the opening of a Conference on Banks and Business here on Tuesday, the BNB said in a press release.

The new law will transpose into Bulgarian legislation the requirements of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market (Second Payment Services Directive). It introduces new payment services, provided entirely on line, and new requirements for security of payment transactions, Stoyanova said. The law extends the scope of payment transactions to such in which only of the payment service providers is in EU territory and to transactions carried out in all currencies and not just in the currencies of the EU Member States.

Next year, the so-called "instant payments" will take the EU payment services market one step ahead, in line with changes in consumer behaviour and the implementation of innovative technologies. Payment will take not more than 20 seconds to reach the payee's account after initiation. The service will be available on a 24/7/365 basis. The European Central Bank has decided that the instant payment settlement service will be part of the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System (TARGET2).

A Register of Bank Accounts and Safe Deposit Boxes has been in operation since the beginning of 2017 as a centralized information system with data on over 16 million bank account. More than 400,000 searches have been made in the register, of which 90 per cent by electronic means.

Updates in the register's information system are to be developed in 2018, making it possible to enter bank account garnishment data and extending the system to public-financed organizations' accounts, Stoyanova added.

A functionality will be developed before the end of 2018 for access to the Central Credit Register for entry and retrieval of data about persons who are debtors, guarantors and sureties for loans extended, the BNB Deputy Governor said.