As of 13 January 2018, Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services in the internal market, i.e. the so-called PSDII (Payment Services Directive II), should enter into force in the European Union and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (EEA).
Currently in Poland, the amendment of the Act on Payment Services is being prepared to implement the provisions of PSDII.
As all the Member States have to implement the Directive into their national laws, some provisions of the act may be implemented in different ways.
This possible diversity of implementation may also concern the issue of covering costs by the parties of a foreign payment transaction.

mBank suggests avoiding foreign payments in EEA with the “OUR” cost option (all costs to be borne by the ordering party). This refers in particular to the period after 13 January 2018, when banks will may no longer accept this cost option.

A payment with the “OUR” cost option may result in:

• delay in the execution of the payment,
• additional costs,
• unilateral alteration of the cost option by a third-party bank, including the bank of the beneficiary, or
• return of the payment.

The recommended cost option for such payments is “SHA” (the costs of the sending bank are borne by the ordering party, while the costs of third-party banks are borne by the beneficiary). The Directive clearly indicates “SHA” as the proper cost option.
Please be kindly reminded that under the currently binding provisions of PSDI, the “SHA” cost option guarantees execution of payments - in EUR or in the national currency of a member state - with the full amount reaching the beneficiary’s bank (intermediary institutions must not charge their fees to the transaction amount).