EN ECB -PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 14 October  2014  
on financial transparency, payment services and electronic money  
(CON/2014 /74) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 2 September 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Danish F inancial 
Supervisory Authority (FSA) for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on financial business, the 
Law on s ecurities trading, the Law on payment services and electronic money and various other laws  
(hereinafter the ‘ draft law ’). 
The ECB’s compe tence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the second and sixth indents of Article  2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC1, as the draft law relates to means of payment and rule s applicable to financial institutions 
insofar  as they materially influence the stability of financial institutions and markets . In accordance with 
the first sentence of Article  17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing 
Council has adopted this opinion. 
 
1.  Purpose of the draft law  
The draft law  introduces  a number of changes to the financial legislation . Among these, t he draft 
law aims to increase openness with regard to  the FSA's assessment of undertakings under 
supervisi on, e.g. all such undertakings shall have the obligation to publish the FSA's inspection 
reports2. Furthermore, the draft law  introduces changes to the Law on p ayment service s and 
electronic m oney in order to cut down on administrative burden3. 
1.1 Publication of the FSA's inspection reports  
The draft law  propose s extending  the scope of financial undertakings ’ obligation  to publish the 
FSA’s assessment of the undertaking  in question, with the result that all types of financial 
undertakings  under supervision pursuant to  the Law on f inancial business  are covered , i.e. the 
obligation is extended to savings firms, investment advisors, joint data centres, and carbon 
emissions traders . 
                                                 
1  Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions ( OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
2  See Section  6(10),  Section 7(3), Section  8(2),  Section  9(2) and Section  12(1)  of the draft law . 
3  See Section  3 of the draft law.  
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2 1.2 Amendments to the Law on payment s ervices and electronic m oney 
In order to ease the administrative burden f or electronic money issuers, the draft law  contains an 
exempt ion with regard to the issuance of electronic money  in amounts of less than DKK  3 000 
(approximately 400 euro) from the Law on payment services and e lectronic money , if such 
electronic money cannot be automatically reloaded. At the same time, this electronic money  must 
have a limited scope of application, e.g. it can only be used in one particular shopping centre or in 
establishments forming a particular association of re tailers. The draft law also removes payment 
substitutes  that are free of charge and payment substitutes in amounts of less than DKK 3  000 from 
the draft law’s scope of application  if automatic reloading is not possible . 
Additionally, t he draft law provides  an option to payers where they will have additional  
information on where they have  used their payment instrument (credit cards, mobile payments etc.)  
in order to provid e them with  an overview of the payments made (i.e. diagrams). Th is information 
would on ly be made available to the payer , who  will have the option of declining this option.  
 
2. General observations   
2.1 The ECB notes that the obligation to publish FSA’s inspection reports (or information included in 
the FSA inspection reports) is proposed to be extended to cover all financial undertakings 
supervised by the FSA. While transparency is an important aspect in prudential supervision, publication of inspection reports may influence the way these reports are written, and the speed 
with which they ar e written, which could be detrimental to effective supervision. The ECB recalls 
that the obligation to disclose inspection reports will not apply to credit institutions supervised by the S ingle S upervisory M echanism . In addition, it should be observed whet her these reports contain 
information which, if published, could have an impact on financial stability.  
2.2 The amendments to the Law on payment services and electronic money provide for  an exempt ion 
from the application of the law  for the issu ance of ele ctronic money in amounts of less than 
 DKK 3 000, as well as payment substitutes that are free of charge and payment substitutes in 
amounts of less than DKK 3 000. Directive 2009/110/EC  of the European Parliament and of the 
Council
4 makes a distinction bet ween services to which the directive does not apply5 and areas 
where the Member States have the possibility to waive the application of the d irective for legal 
                                                 
4  See Article 1(4) of Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on the 
taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions amending Directives 
2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC (OJ L 267, 10.10.2009, p. 7).  
5  For example,  services based on payment instruments that can only be used to acquire goods or services o n the premises 
used by the issuer or under a commercial agreement with the issuer , either within a limited network of service providers 
or for a limited range of goods or services . See Article 3( k) of Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007,  p. 1).  
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3 persons fulfilling certain requirements6. The ECB suggests that the Danish legislator should clarify 
the exemption or waiver  of the directive under which the issu ance of electronic money and the 
payment substitutes fall. In addition, the ECB suggest s that the Danish legislator should make clear  
that ‘payment substitutes ’ correspond to services specif ied in Article 3(k) of Directive 2007/64/EC  
and therefore do not fall within the scope of either Directive 2007/64/EC or Directive 
2009/110/EC . 
2.3 Finally , the ECB would like to mention the recommendations from the European Forum on the 
Security of Retail Payments, SecuRe Pay , with regard t o the  proposed additional  possibilities to 
provide collected p ayment information, which might provide some guidance in the area of user 
security7. 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
 
 
Done at Frankfur t am Main, 14 October 2014.  
 
[signed]   
The President of the ECB  
Mario DRAGHI  
                                                 
6  This possibility is available  where : (a) the total business activities generate an average amount of  outstanding electronic 
money that does not exceed a limit set by the Member State but that amounts to no more than EUR 5 000 000;  and 
(b) none of the natural persons responsible for the management or operation of the business has been convicted of 
offences relating to money laundering or terrorist financing or other financial crimes . See Article 9(1) of Directive 
2009/110/EC.  
7  Please see 'Final recommendations for the security of payment account access services following the consultation ', 
available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.