CESOP

Central Electronic System of Payment Information (CESOP) is an EU regulatory system that requires payment service providers to collect and report detailed data on cross-border payment transactions within the European Union.

Enacted in 2024, CESOP mandates that payment providers capture and maintain records on both the payer and payee involved in cross-border EU transactions, including:

• Name and business name
• Tax ID number
• Payment account details such as IBAN, BIC, or any other unique identifier
• Address when available

Payment service providers must also track specific transactional data such as the date and time, payment amount and currency, origin and destination countries, payment method and unique identifiers, and whether a transaction was card-present or card-not-present.

This information is stored for three years and must be reported quarterly to each provider’s national regulatory authority. The national authorities then share the compiled CESOP data with EU headquarters by the 10th of the second month after each quarter’s end.

The centralized CESOP database aims to increase transparency around cross-border payment flows to combat value-added tax (VAT) fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes across the EU.

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Understanding CESOP: The New EU Payment Regulations