In its constant aim to boost customers’ banking experience, BBAC has recently launched a new Digital Banking Platform for its customers in Cyprus. With a fresh look and feel and innovative features and functionality, the platform also supports EU’s Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) - a directive aimed at providing increased flexibility and security to customers in the execution of electronic payments within the EU. PSD2 ensures more transparency as well as greater customer choice and control over financial assets and personal data. Its objectives are to make payments safer and increase customers’ protection when transacting online.

The directive ushers in a new era of ‘Open Banking’, where customers are granted unprecedented freedom in how they access financial services and an increasing level of control over how, when, and where they use their banking services. With the application of PSD2, BBAC’s Digital Banking Platform for Cyprus now allows customers to link their accounts at BBAC and other financial institutions across EU to a regulated Third Party Provider (TPP) in order to transfer money securely between these accounts and have a consolidated financial overview of balances and transactions.Customers will also be able to give permission to a regulated TPP to initiate payments from their accounts on their behalf, noting that regulated TPPs will not, under any circumstances, gain access to customers’ accounts unless they have been given explicit consent to do so.

“As a customer centric bank with an innovative mindset, we believe it is extremely vital that we embrace major technological developments as opportunities to further innovate and develop, especially that we are surrounded by disruptive technologies that are changing the face of the world as we know it. This is why we have recently undertaken concrete steps to be more digitally mature through the implementation of our new Digital Banking Platform for Cyprus, and have actively embraced the new open payment landscape, which we believe will both benefit and invigorate our customers”, said Mr. Nadim Hamadeh, BBAC’s AGM for Banking. 

“Additionally, at BBAC, we aim to reach the perfect balance between technical developments and security advances by investing in improving our customers’ experience while ensuring their funds and data are protected. With this in mind, our customers can expect to be kept informed about the safety and security regulations of transacting online under PSD2”, he added.