The OBE Directory is a pan-European, single, standardised, machine-readable repository for active regulated entities that can perform access-to-account (XS2A) services across Europe. PRETA OBE Directory will provide SOCIETE GENERALE with a key service to identify authorised Third Party Providers (TPPs), which will support the financial institution in ensuring compliance with the access-to-account security requirements of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and regulatory technical standard that will become effective on 14 September 2019.

Apart from pooling the information provided by the different national TPP registers, the OBE Directory also contains additional operational information to help provide some transparency to TPPs and account-servicing payment service providers (AS-PSPs), especially regarding cases where brand name differ from the legal name of the entities with access to the account.

The partnership with PRETA supports SOCIETE GENERALE’s vision to pool operational, technical and compliance efforts in the context of the implementation of the required Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) under the PSD2 regulatory requirements, so that the Group can focus on the development of its core business and on the relationship with its customers.

Nicolas Cailly, Head of Payment and Liquidity Management Solutions at SOCIETE GENERALE group stated: “The effort required to understand 31 national registries, each holding multiple types of payment service provider information, is huge, but the PRETA OBE Directory initiative will make our task much easier as SOCIETE GENERALE group is deploying the BERLIN GROUP API for its European cash management activities as well as the STET API for its French retail and SME market.”

John Broxis, Managing Director of PRETA/Open Banking Europe commented: “We are very pleased to see a major pan-European banking group such as SOCIETE GENERALE joining the PRETA OBE initiative. SOCIETE GENERALE, together with other pioneer banks in Europe, has been actively participating in the design of our directory from the start. The road to PSD2 access-to-account has proven to be complex and our centralised directory is there to make the journey easier and facilitate interoperability between the various market participants.”