The EU reform of the payment services sector is now entering the last straightaway. One of the key changes launched by adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was introduction of new types of payment services which require access to the user’s payment account using a type of interface defined in the regulations. The duties connected with such access rest on the providers operating the accounts, which have a choice between creating a dedicated “application programming interface” (API) or upgrading their existing user interface system. Both solutions are to a certain extent linked with the earlier known and controversial method of screen scraping.

What is screen scraping?

Screen scraping is automated harvesting by a computer program of data presented in visual form, usually not adapted for machine reading. The data obtained in this way may derive from various sources, such as websites displayed by a browser, computer programs, or mobile applications.

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