EU weighs new rules on payments in challenge to Visa, Mastercard

BRUSSELS – The European Commission is considering new rules to speed up the take-up of an instant payment system launched last year by the European Central Bank in a direct challenge to card firms and tech giants, like PayPal, a top official said.
The ECB’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system will let people and companies in Europe transfer euros to each other within seconds and regardless of the opening hours of their local bank.
This is seen as a direct challenge to U.S. firms like PayPal, Google, Facebook and Amazon, and China’s Alibaba and Tencent which currently dominate such services in Europe.