TSP

A TSP is how a PSP that does not want to build a digital euro stack from scratch gets one anyway.

What it is#

PSPs may outsource digital euro development and operations to third-party providers. The provider doing that work is a technical service provider.

This is not an exotic arrangement. It is the same shape as the outsourcing that already exists throughout European payments — core banking, card processing, PSD2 interfaces. The digital euro does not introduce a new legal concept here; it inherits an established one.

The line that does not move#

The PSP retains regulatory responsibility. You can outsource the build, the run, the on-call rotation and the release process. You cannot outsource being the regulated entity.

That single sentence should govern how a PSP evaluates a TSP. The questions that matter are not just "can they build it?" but "can I supervise, audit and evidence what they built, to my regulator, when asked?"

Why the TSP model exists at all#

Look at the shape of the obligation. Credit institutions will be obliged to offer basic digital euro services on request once the digital euro launches, and those basic services are free for individuals.

That combination — mandatory to offer, no revenue from the basic service — is unusual. It means every credit institution in the euro area needs an integration, including institutions with no appetite to run a payments engineering team. For a small or mid-size bank, a compliance obligation that generates no fee income is precisely the kind of thing you buy rather than build.