Guides

Open Banking guides for PISPs

Plain-English explanations of the things a payment initiation service provider has to get right — the licence, the certificates, the bank APIs and the connectivity underneath. Written by the team that runs the connections.

• What is a PISP? Payment initiation service providers explained

  The regulated role behind Open Banking payments: what a PISP does, what it may not do, and what it takes to become one in the EU and the UK.

• Build vs buy: Open Banking connectivity for licensed PISPs

  Build the bank connections, borrow an aggregator's licence, or run your own licence on infrastructure. What each option costs and who it suits.

• eIDAS certificates for PSD2: QWAC and QSealC explained

  The two certificates every EU PISP needs, what is inside them, how banks check them, and why an expired QWAC is the most avoidable outage there is.

• PSD2 API standards in Europe: Berlin Group, STET, UK Open Banking and the hubs

  PSD2 mandated access, not a specification. A practical map of the standards and hubs a PISP actually meets, country by country.

• Why Open Banking connections break — and how to monitor them

  Certificates, silent API changes, shared IT providers and sandbox drift: the failure modes of PSD2 connections, and what to measure to catch them early.

• Outsourcing to a technical service provider: a guide for licensed PISPs

  Running your licence on someone else's technology is outsourcing. What PSD2, the EBA guidelines, DORA and the FCA expect — and what to ask a provider.