|
 |
 |
 |
“The European Central Bank (ECB) has always
considered the euro zone as a domestic zone”, pointed out Jean-Michel
Godeffroy, General Manager of Payment Systems at ECB. Back in 1999,
this institution had already emphasised that infrastructure, procedures
and standards should evolve towards the creation of a true single
transfer and payment market.
The announcement at the end of 2001 of the regulation instituting
identical costs for cross-border payments in euros gave this trend
a considerable boost. In particular, it prompted banks to create the
European Payments Council (EPC). “This coherent project was
based on interbank cooperation for the long term with a clear goal:
build a single payments system after having progressively erased national
differences. Faced with this challenge the ECB sought from the outset
to be closely involved with the EPC’s work”, explained
Jean-Michel Godeffroy. For card payments, which already enjoyed a
certain level of standardisation, the challenge, according to Jean-Michel
Godeffroy, was to process transactions made within the euro zone as
‘domestic’ transactions. “With the euro, it became
inconceivable to process a payment between France and Germany in the
same way as a payment outside the European Union.” The ECB did,
however, want to avoid the pitfall of over-regulating in this area.
“Above all, our approach is one of consultation. Wanting to
see everything regulated would lead to a passive market devoid of
innovation.”
|
|
| Back
to top of page |
| |
|
|
|
