ECB Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell: SEPA’s challenges
06 July 2009
“Harmonization and innovation will reduce the fragmentation of the European payment market", she said. "Currently the state of our financial integration shows some signs of segmentation along national borders".
Gertrude Tumel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, focused her speech on following three main areas:
1. Innovation and harmonization are key elements in order to avoid market fragmentation.
2. SEPA continues to be a mainly self-regulated project. However, there are elements which the market will not be able to accomplish on its own and which need more regulatory involvement. That is why the ECB has been increasingly involved as a moderator in order to keep SEPA successfully on course.
3. Policy-makers and the financial services industry should be focusing on the customers’ needs and benefits. “The governance of payment systems requires transparent processes”, she stated.
© ECB - European Central Bank
