Open Banking Exchange (OBE) Europe has been analysing the payment statuses available in PSD2 and Open Banking APIs as provided by Account Servicing Payment Service Providers (ASPSPs). These are the statuses that are returned to Third Party Providers (TPPs) when they initiate a payment on behalf of a Payment Services User (PSU) and request transaction status updates through to payment completion.
OBE has carried out this analysis as a number of TPPs have expressed concerns that they are unsure of which payment statuses are returned by ASPSPs and what those statuses mean, making it difficult for them to adequately track transactions through to completion and provide adequate support to their customers.
To investigate these concerns, OBE has looked at the guidance on payment statuses as offered by the Berlin Group, OBIE, and STET PSD2 API frameworks, and how that guidance has been implemented by selected banks and a national hub to assess where any confusion or uncertainty has been introduced that might be making it difficult for TPPs to understand the scope and purpose of the payment statuses applied.
As a result, of this initial analysis, OBE has identified a number of initial recommendations for the application of payment statuses which can be found at the end of this document. OBE will continue to gather more information on how payment statuses are being defined by different frameworks and how they are being implemented by ASPSPs and will finalise these recommendations in a future document.
The intent of this initial analysis is to act as a springboard for further discussion on the subject in order to try and reach a common understanding and approach in the implementation of payment statuses, so that both ASPSPs and TPPs have clear guidance on their application and use.
OBE therefore welcomes any and all comments, queries, suggestions, issues, etc. on this subject and will investigate any and all responses received in order to prepare a future final document on this subject.