ECB and OENB call for a faster implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area

Wien (OTS) - During their joint conference, "The future of retail
payments - opportunities and challenges", representatives of the
European Central Bank (ECB) and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank
(OeNB) called on the financial services sector to speed up the
implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Gertrude
Tumpel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, and
Wolfgang Duchatczek, Vice Governor of the OeNB, both emphasised that
the SEPA project is the logical consequence of the creation of the
euro, and that only a prompt implementation of SEPA will help to
achieve an integrated and competitive European market for cashless
payments in euro.

Ms Tumpel-Gugerell stressed that given the slower than expected
migration towards the new pan-European payment instruments - the SEPA
credit transfer (SCT) and the SEPA direct debit (SDD) - joint action
and increased effort is needed to finalise the transition. Therefore,
the Eurosystem, comprising the ECB and all national central banks of
the euro area, calls for concrete deadlines for this migration, i.e.
the end of January 2013 for credit transfers and the end of January
2014 for direct debits.

Ms Tumpel-Gugerell indicated that retail payment solutions offered
throughout SEPA must be easy to use and efficient, but also secure.
Responsibility for the security of retail payments is shared by
regulators, payment service providers, retailers and consumers. To
reduce the possibility of fraud, the Eurosystem recommends that,
within SEPA, payment cards are issued with only a chip and not with a
magnetic stripe, since the latter is an easy target for fraudsters.

Ms Tumpel-Gugerell recalled the need for at least one additional
European card scheme, which offers its service in competition with
already existing international cards schemes. She also stressed the
importance of innovative payment solutions, and called for the
emergence of European online e-payment services based on online
banking, secure card payments on the internet and mobile payment
solutions, all meeting consumers' and merchants' requirements.

Mr Duchatczek emphasised that for the implementation of an
integrated payments market, joint and coordinated action by all
stakeholders at the European level as well as in the individual SEPA
communities is required. He confirmed that the implementation of SEPA
is progressing well in Austria and that nearly all Austrian banks are
able to initiate SEPA credit transfers and direct debits. In
addition, owing to the decision of large companies to migrate early
to SEPA direct debits, Austria is currently the country with the
highest share of such transactions executed in the new SEPA format.

Mr Duchatczek supported the proposed EU regulation on SEPA migration
end dates and highlighted the crucial role of communication. In this
regard, he drew attention to an ongoing OeNB information campaign, as
part of which experts from the OeNB visit all major cities in Austria
to explain the implications of SEPA to the people there.

In view of the request to migrate to chip-only cards, Mr
Duchatczek stressed that almost all point-of-sale terminals and
automated teller machines in Austria are already capable of using
"chip and PIN" for the authorisation of card transactions.

Lastly, Mr Duchatczek confirmed the establishment of a clearing
house with final settlement in central bank money in Austria, which
not only should facilitate full migration to SEPA, but also aims to
increase security, quality and efficiency in the Austrian interbank
payments market by considerably reducing banks' liquidity needs and
costs. The new clearing service will become operational in November
2011 and will be operated by Geldservice Austria, a private-public
partnership between the OeNB and commercial banks. The vast majority
of Austrian retail payments will then be processed via this clearing
infrastructure. With the combined effort in the customer-to-bank as
well as the bank-to-bank domain, the OeNB together with the Austrian
banks are confident of being able to successfully meet the SEPA
challenges ahead.

Rückfragehinweis:
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Abteilung für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Tel.: +43-1 404 20/6666
http://www.oenb.at

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