Article 68 paragraph 1 of PSD2 prescribes that "Where a specific payment instrument is used for the purposes of giving consent, the payer and the payer’s payment service provider may agree on spending limits for payment transactions executed through that payment instrument."

According to this provision, the PSP is allowed to set a limit for the execution of payment transaction under the certain payment initiation channel (for example mobile banking), in order to mitigate the risk of fraud (to prevent fraud).

When the payment transaction is an instant payment, the Article 5a(6) of the IPR is applied: " Upon the request of the PSU, a PSP shall offer a PSU the possibility of setting a limit fixing a maximum amount that can be sent by means of instant credit transfer. That limit may be either on a per day or per transaction basis, at the sole discretion of the PSU. PSPs shall ensure that PSUs are able to modify that maximum amount at any time prior to the placing of a payment order for an instant credit transfer. "

In answer to question 70 of Q&A [Clarification of requirements of the Instant Payments Regulation - European Commission (europa.eu) regarding the harmonised implementation of Instant Payment Regulation (EU) 2024/886 (IPR) it is said: "Any spending limits set by PSPs have to be common for instant credit transfers and regular credit transfers (e.g., in accordance with Article 68 of PSD2, when a payment instrument is used to give consent). However, based on Article 5a(6) of the IPR, a PSU may request to set a higher limit for instant credit transfers since that provision does not impose a constraint of a limit that had been set by the PSP."

On request for further explanation of this answer, the European Commission kindly provided the following answer:

"If a PSU does not exercise its right to request a limit fixing a maximum amount that can be sent by means of instant credit transfers in euro in accordance with Article 5a(6) of the IPR and if its PSP has set a spending limit for credit transfers under Article 68(1) of PSD2, then the latter limit applies, but it has to be common for regular and instant credit transfers in euro, as clarified in Q67 of the IPR Implementation guidance.

 If a PSU requests a limit fixing a maximum amount that can be sent by means of instant credit transfers in euro and that limit is on a daily basis and higher that the limit that has been set by a PSP under Article 68(1) of PSD2, then the limit requested by the PSU becomes the new binding daily limit only for instant credit transfers in euro.   As regards regular credit transfers, the limit that has been set by the PSP under Article 68(1) of PSD2 will continue to apply or may be revised by the PSP in accordance with provisions of PSD2. [At this point it is irrelevant if the limits for instant and regular credit transfers in euro diverge, because the PSU will have expressed its preference as regards limits for instant credit transfers in euro].

 If a PSU requests a limit fixing a maximum amount that can be sent by means of instant credit transfers in euro and that limit is on a per transaction basis, this effectively means that the PSU has chosen a transaction limit and not a daily limit. The transaction limit requested by the PSU becomes the binding limit only for instant credit transfer transactions in euro, but there is no daily limit for instant credit transfers that can be sent by the PSU.   As regards regular credit transfers, the limit that has been set by the PSP under Article 68(1) of PSD2 will continue to apply or may be revised by the PSP in accordance with provisions of PSD2. [At this point it is irrelevant if the limits for instant and regular credit transfers in euro diverge, because the PSU will have expressed its preference as regards limits for instant credit transfers in euro]."

Having that said, our question is: is PSP allowed, according to the Article 68(1) of PSD2, to set a general limit (daily and/or per transaction) for the execution of payment transaction to the payee with the PSP in another EU Member state, under the certain payment initiation channel (for example mobile banking), in order to mitigate the risk of fraud (to prevent fraud)?

It is understood that the PSU can request a limit fixing above that limit – on a daily basis or per transactions, for instant payment transactions in euro.

For regular credit transfer, the PSP can remain on its general limit set in order to prevent fraud and it is not obligated to change the limit above that limit, on PSU's request?

Is PSP allowed to set different general limits for national payments and for payments to PSPs in another EU Member state (due to various fraud risk associated to these transactions)?