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selection-and-participation-process

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PSP selection & participation process

How a payment service provider becomes a “pilot PSP.”

Timeline of this stage

  1. 5 March 2026 — ECB publishes the call for expression of interest (src-call-for-expression-of-interest).
  2. PSP reviews Annex 1 (pilot payment services on offer, src-call-annex-1-pilot-payment-services) and completes Annex 2 (the selection-criteria questionnaire) — see src-call-annex-2-rbi-application for a real worked example.
  3. Deadline: 17:00 CET, 14 May 2026 — questionnaire submitted to digitaleuropilot@ecb.europa.eu.
  4. Selected PSPs sign a Participation Agreement with their ncb (not the ECB directly). A tracked-changes v2.0 of at least the Appendix 2.F (end-to-end process flows) was republished 12 May 2026 — see src-participation-agreement-appendix-2f and note its relationship to src-end-to-end-process-flows below.
  5. Not remunerated for pilot participation; not being selected doesn’t exclude a PSP from future digital euro initiatives.

Selection criteria (Annex 2 structure)

  • G — General information: legal identity of the applicant.
  • E — Eligibility requirements: licensing (PSD2), operational reliability, technical support commitment, resource commitment, and technical-integration willingness (split by distributing- vs. acquiring-PSP-only criteria).
  • W — Weighted evaluation criteria: TARGET Services/DCA access & regulatory compliance, market presence, dual-role capability, end-user/merchant portfolio relevance, support desk capacity, piloting track record, feedback-mechanism capability.
  • M — Miscellaneous: technical service providers involved, app strategy (Eurosystem app vs. proprietary vs. both), free-text.

Document evolution — worth tracking

src-participation-agreement-appendix-2f (PSP Participation Agreement, Appendix 2.F, v2.0, first published 14 April 2026, republished with editorial amendments 12 May 2026) mirrors src-end-to-end-process-flows (5 March 2026) section-for-section — same process IDs (sAM, sLM, sTM families), same structure, only terminology capitalization differs (“Individual End-User” vs “individual end user”, “User Alias” vs “alias”). Treat the Participation Agreement appendix as the authoritative, legally-binding version once a PSP has signed — the earlier standalone doc is the pre-contract draft.

pilot-psp · ncb · pilot-timeline · src-call-annex-2-rbi-application

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