PSD2
Payment Services Directive 2 (Directive 2015/2366)EU directive governing payment services and PSPs; introduced Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), open banking APIs, and consumer protections. Being superseded by PSD3/PSR.
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01 — Our picks
Four accounts, four different jobs.
01
Qonto France · invoicing · 7 integrations
Payment inst. Business product
From €9Business tier
4.8 /5
→
02
Wise United Kingdom · invoicing · 5 integrations
E-money Business product
FreeBusiness tier
4.3 /5
→
03
N26 Germany · no invoicing · 2 integrations
Full bank Business product
FreeBusiness tier
4.1 /5
→
04
Revolut United Kingdom · invoicing · 4 integrations
Full bank Business product
FreeBusiness tier
4.7 /5
→
02 — The tool for the job
Pick by your dominant use case.
For DE / FR / ES solo / small team
Qonto.
Deep accounting integration (DATEV, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage), proper invoicing, multi-user roles. The SME default in the index.
For international freelancers
Wise Business.
Multi-currency receiving accounts in 10+ currencies. Invoicing, batch payments, mid-market FX. Pair with a DGS bank.
Regulatory landscape · EU
The EU rules behind freelancer-friendly banking.
Every neobank in this ranking is regulated under one of these five EU frameworks. Cards link directly to the EUR-Lex / Commission source text.
PSD3
Third Payment Services Directive (provisional agreement)Successor framework to PSD2. EU Parliament and Council reached provisional political agreement 27 November 2025. Extends Verification of Payee (VoP) to all credit transfers; mandates fraud-data sharing between PSPs.
DORA
Digital Operational Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554)ICT risk-management and incident-reporting framework for EU financial entities. In force since 17 January 2025.
AMLR / AMLD6
EU Anti-Money-Laundering Package: AML Regulation + 6th AML Directive + AMLASingle AML rulebook + EU AML Authority (AMLA, HQ Frankfurt, operational 2025). 6th AML Directive transposed 2025–2027; AMLR directly applicable from July 2027.
MiCAR
Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (EU) 2023/1114EU framework for crypto-asset issuers + CASPs. The transitional 'grandfathering' period for providers operating under prior national regimes expires 1 July 2026; after that date a provider without a MiCA CASP authorisation must stop offering crypto services to EU customers. Required for any neobank offering crypto trading (Revolut, Vivid Money, Lunar, Bitpanda).
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