Austria's Payment Services Act 2018, or ZaDiG 2018, governs payment services and providers. The FMA licenses payment institutions and payment-initiation providers, registers account-information providers and supervises the framework linking market entry with service delivery.
TL;DR:
- The FMA licenses payment and initiation providers and registers account-information providers.
- Requires capital, governance, risk controls, transparent terms and payment-user protections.
- A payment-institution licence does not authorise deposit-taking.
Summary
Austria’s implementation of PSD2
ZaDiG 2018 transposes the second European Payment Services Directive into Austrian law. Its scope includes payment services such as transfers, card transactions, direct debits, acquiring, remittance, payment initiation and account information. It combines the regulation of institutions with rules governing the provision and use of services. The framework therefore reaches both the provider’s permission to operate and the customer’s experience of authorising, receiving information about and resolving problems with a payment.
Licensing and registration by service
The FMA grants Austrian payment-institution and payment-initiation licences and registers account-information providers. Its guidance identifies supervisory requirements concerning own funds, risk management, suitable directors and reporting. The regulator’s company database shows the services within a licence or registration. That detail matters where a business offers several products: permission to initiate a payment, supply account information or acquire transactions should not be inferred from a generic description of the firm as a fintech.
Security and responsibility to the user
The law strengthens payment security and customer protection, including strong customer authentication for online payments and rules on unauthorised transactions. Its transparency provisions require information about contractual terms and charges. Liability provisions address errors in transfers and other payments. These requirements connect the legal permission to provide a service with the way it is delivered, rather than treating licensing as the only relevant protection in the payment relationship.
Payment institutions are not deposit-taking banks
The FMA distinguishes payment institutions from credit institutions: a payment-institution permission does not authorise the firm to carry on deposit-taking or other business requiring a banking licence. EEA cross-border provision also depends on the applicable authorisation and notification arrangements. ZaDiG sits alongside directly applicable European requirements and supporting Austrian regulations. Reading the licence scope and current legal instruments together avoids attributing every banking or payment permission to a firm merely because it appears in the FMA register.
Keywords
- Austria payments
- ZaDiG 2018
- FMA licensing
- PSD2
- account information
- own funds
- risk management
- customer protection
- deposit restrictions
- secure payments