Established in 2007, the Directive on Payment Services (PSD) is EU legislation that provides the legal foundation for the creation of a single market for payments across the Eurozone, and the necessary legal platform for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The introduction of PSD made cross-border payments easier and faster with SEPA payments being used to make transfers across the majority of Europe.
Another key goal for the PSD is to improve competition by opening up payment markets to new entrants, providing greater efficiency and cost-reduction to end users.