PISPs, AISPs and CISPs: new entities introduced by the PSD2

Updated: 10 June 2022 • Reading time: 3 minutes

Nowadays the primary means that customers use to access their bank accounts is via their channels and products. But with the new European PSD2 regulation, a TPP (Third-Party Providers) category was born, and we saw three new entities emerge: PISPs, AISPs and CISPs.

Let's start with PISPs (Payment Initiation Service Providers): they enable third-party companies to make a payment on behalf of consumers, obviously with their authorisation, without the need for the customer to visit the bank’s online portal. What is the benefit? Thanks to PISPs, consumers have much more flexibility when they need to make a payment.
On the other hand, AISPs (Account Information Service Providers) enable third-party companies to access consumer banks and obtain information about their accounts. What benefits do AISPs provide? One example would be enabling consumers to have all the information about different accounts via a single platform. This way the consumer has a general view of their financial situation.
Finally, the CISPs (Card Issuer Service Providers) are a third party that issues debit cards linked to bank accounts opened at another institution. CISPs do not hold the funds directly but can check the availability on the bank account linked to the debit card and can allow the finalisation of a payment in favor of a merchant.

With the introduction of these new figures, banks must provide their customers, retailers and companies with the ability to operate and access their accounts online through third parties, guaranteeing equal conditions as if the customer themselves worked directly with the bank and without any specific agreements between the banks and the third party service providers. It is possible thanks to the APIs (Application Programming Interface), a system through which third-party services can communicate with banks and collect the necessary information in order to interact with each other and the companies. We have explored how PISPs, CISPs and AISPs can considerably improve the consumers' user experience. We will now move on to another factor, closely linked to AISPs: Big Data platforms.

Big Data

Aside from the benefit for consumers which is to be able to access all the information about their accounts via a single platform, AISPs may use this data for purposes related to the service offered (always with prior authorization via consent of the party concerned).

The fundamental aspect of the creation process of new services and products is that they are tightly connected with the Big Data platforms of the banking and Fintech world. This is how customers' various behaviours, preferences and needs are studied and explored - thanks to big data. Studied data is then compared with that obtained thanks to AISPs to further personalise offers and enable them to meet the needs of every consumer. Data has to be collected in compliance with the legislations: the GDPR and the European Data Protection Board; and protection of privacy and data processing have to be in line with the consent provided by customers.

Discover all of the innovations introduced by the PSD2 regulation in our article What is PSD2: a step forward towards open banking.