The European banking industry is looking to the future, setting out its vision for the future of the market with payment revenue taking a massive hit in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

McKinsey is anticipating a dramatic drop in payments revenue as the Coronavirus crisis hits economic activity across the globe.

But the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG), European Banking Federation (EBF), and the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB) point out that the crisis has brought to the fore the significance of well-functioning payments services.

The three groups have spent the last few months putting their concept for payments in the EU over the next five years collectively, as they attempt to meet changes sparked by a mix of evolving client needs, regulatory action, technology and innovation, and increased competition.

Top of the list of priorities is the significance of forming instant payments across the EU that allows for both the differentiation of EU firms and the decline of dependency on the dominant non-EU payment card schemes.

European banks are operating under the sunshade of the Pan European Payment System Initiative to provide an alternative to Mastercard and Visa but acknowledge that the effort lacks substantial investment. In return, they are asking for “strong support” from policymakers to achieve better their goals, including a leveling of the playing field between banks and Big Tech competitors. This would cause actions to open up NFC chips and biometric identity readers given by the likes of Google and Apple, and a mutually-beneficial path to data sharing that recognizes the current asymmetries in data access.

The allies argue that it is time to obtain the full advantages of PSD2 and beyond, as ‘open payments’ see the further extension of data sharing, including beyond commercial services. Also, the significance of balancing digitization with economic inclusion and a common approach to digital currencies is highlighted by them.