Opinion of the European Central Bank of 1 November 2005 at the request of the Banca d’Italia on a draft regulation concerning the oversight of low-value payment systems (CON/2005/41)
Date: 2005-11-01
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Italy, financial stability, financial supervision, national law, payment system, retail trade

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 1 November 2005 

at the request of the Banca d’Italia 

on a draft regulation concerning the oversight of low-value payment systems  

(CON/2005/41) 

1. 

On 2 September 2005 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Banca d’Italia 

for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  regulation  concerning  the  oversight  of  low-value  payment  systems 

(hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’).  

2. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the second, third, fifth and sixth indents 

of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European 
Central  Bank  by  national  authorities  regarding  draft  provisions1,  as  it  contains  provisions 

concerning  means  of  payment,  the  Banca  d’Italia,  payment  and  settlement  systems  and  rules 

applicable to financial institutions that materially influence the stability of financial institutions and 

markets.  In  accordance  with  the  first  sentence  of  Article 17.5  of  the  Rules  of  Procedure  of  the 

European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

3. 

The contents of the draft regulation 

The draft regulation concerns the oversight and operation of the BI-COMP system, which covers 

the clearing and transmission for settlement of low-value payments. BI-COMP consists of two sub-

systems  (Recapiti  locale  for  the  exchange  of  cheques  and  paper-based  instruments  and  Dettaglio 

for  electronic  payment  instructions),  as  well  as  the  national  clearing  procedure  (Compensazione 

nazionale)  to  which  the  balances  of  the  two  sub-systems  are  transmitted.  The  draft  regulation 

results from the Banca d’Italia’s decision to enable legal persons other than the Banca d’Italia to 

perform certain parts of the processing of low-value retail payments, which makes it necessary to 

update  the  relevant  legal  framework.  More  specifically,  as  regards  the  Dettaglio  sub-system,  the 

draft  regulation  provides  that  the  phases  preceding  the  calculation  of  the  multilateral  clearing 

balances  will  no  longer  be  exclusively  exercised  by  the  Banca  d’Italia,  but  also  by  market 

participants in free competition in accordance with the rules and principles set out in the Regulation 
concerning the oversight of payment systems issued by the Banca d’Italia on 24 February 20042. 

1 
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
The ECB was consulted on this Regulation: see ECB Opinion CON/2003/14 of 7 August 2003 at the request of the Banca 
d’Italia on a draft regulation on payment systems, payment infrastructures and payment instruments. 

 
 
 
                                                      
The draft regulation highlights that the Recapiti locale sub-system will continue to be exclusively 

operated by the Banca d’Italia. 

4. 

The Eurosystem’s policy statement on central bank provision of retail payment services 

In  general,  the  ECB  welcomes  the  draft  regulation’s  provisions  allowing  free  competition  in  the 

‘organisation, management and execution of the exchange of payment instructions to be entered in 

the  “Dettaglio”  sub-system’.  As  stated  in  the  Governing  Council’s  policy  statement  of  4  August 
20053 (hereinafter the ‘Eurosystem policy statement’), ‘in order to avoid competitive distortions or 

a  crowding-out  of  market  initiatives,  NCBs  [national  central  banks]  which  offer  retail  payment 

services to credit institutions take due account of the requirements and competitive environment of 

the market concerned, including cost recovery’. The ECB notes that the opening-up of certain parts 

of the BI-COMP retail payment system to competition does not raise oversight concerns provided 

that the systems in question continue to comply with Eurosystem oversight standards. Furthermore, 

the ECB notes that this opening-up is a policy decision of the Banca d’Italia, the aim of which is to 

facilitate the creation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and to ensure compliance with the 

Eurosystem policy statement.  

5. 

The opening-up of certain parts of the Dettaglio sub-system to competition 

The ECB notes that it is clearly the intention of the draft regulation to create free competition in the 

Dettaglio  sub-system.  Therefore,  the  relevant  provisions,  in  particular  Article  2,  could  make  this 

clearer  by  using  wording  such  as:  ‘The  organisation,  management  and  execution  of  payment 

instructions  to  be  entered  in  the  “Dettaglio”  sub-system  may  be  exercised  by  any  person,  in 

compliance with ... ’. 

6.  Measures to ensure a level playing field 

The ECB notes that, alongside private operators, the Banca d’Italia itself may continue to organise, 

manage  and  execute  the  exchange  of  payment  instructions  to  be  entered  in  the  Dettaglio  sub-

system. In order to ensure a level playing field, the recitals to the draft regulation should clarify that 

the obligations being imposed on private operators are also applicable to the Banca d’Italia in its 

role  as  operator.  Appropriate  measures  should  be  put  in  place  to  ensure  that  observance  of  these 

requirements by both private operators and the Banca d’Italia can be transparently assessed. 

7. 

The ECB welcomes the reference in recital 8 to the application of the principle of cost recovery by 

central banks which directly provide low-value payment services in competition with the market, 

which is also intended to ensure a level playing field. 

8. 

Also,  in  the  light  of  the  Eurosystem  policy  statement,  the  ECB  would  propose  the  provision  of 

further  explanation  regarding  the  statement  in  recital  11  that  the  Banca  d’Italia’s  exclusive 

operation is ‘indispensable’ in the phase of determination of the participants’ clearing balances and 

their consequent transmission for settlement, as far as concerns payment instructions flowing into 

3  

‘Central  banks’  provision  of  retail  payment  services  in  euro  to  credit  institutions’;  available  on  the  ECB  website 
(www.ecb.int). 

2 

 
                                                      
the  Dettaglio sub-system. This would clarify that the provision is not intended to prevent private 

entities  from  providing  comparable  services  in  Italy,  outside  the  scope  of  BI-COMP  (i.e.  those 

services  that  are  described  in  recital  3  as  the  components  of  a  clearing  process).  Otherwise  the 

provision might be considered a competitive distortion or a crowding-out of market initiatives in 

the retail payments field.  

9. 

The Recapiti locale sub-system 

The  final  recital  to  the  draft  regulation  states  that  the  characteristics  of  paper-based  payment 

instruments make it ‘advisable’ for the Banca d’Italia to maintain operation of the entire clearing 

process  of  the  Recapiti  locale  sub-system.  However,  it  is  noted  that  the  explanatory  note 

accompanying  the  draft  regulation  refers  to  ‘specific  legal  and  operational  characteristics  that 

preclude the  direct intervention of market operators, even in the  exchange phase  alone, requiring 

that the entire clearing process continue to be operated by the Bank of Italy’. The ECB understands 

that  this  refers  to  the  fact  that  the  Banca  d’Italia  –  as  a  public  authority  –  may  issue  an  official 

statement  certifying  that  a  cheque  has  not  been  paid  (dichiarazione  sostitutiva  del  protesto), 

pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 45 of Royal Decree 1736 of 21 December 1933 (according 

to which a clearing house can issue such a statement), read in conjunction with Article 18 of Royal 

Decree-Law  812  of  6  May  1926,  ratified  as  Law  1262  of  25  June  1926  (according  to  which  the 

Banca  d’Italia  is  responsible  for  managing  clearing  houses).  However,  pursuant  to  Royal  Decree 

1736  of  21  December  1933  and  Law  349  of  12  June  1973,  various  other  authorities  (e.g.  public 

notaries) could issue an equivalent legal document (protesto) if private operators were able to clear 

cheques.  Given  the  requirement  under  Article  105(1)  of  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European 

Community for the Eurosystem to act in accordance with the principle of an open market economy 

with  free  competition,  the  ECB  proposes  that  the  relevant  Italian  authorities  amend  the 

abovementioned legislative provisions to ensure that specific functions of the Banca d’Italia in the 

payment system do not act as a competitive distortion or as a crowding-out of market initiatives in 

the retail payments field.  

10.  Oversight requirements 

Article  2  of  the  draft  regulation  sets  out  the  Banca  d’Italia’s  oversight  role  in  relation  to  the 

activities of private operators which will organise, manage and execute the exchange of payment 

instructions  to  be  entered  in  the  Dettaglio  sub-system.  This  Article  builds  on  the  Regulation 

concerning  the  oversight  of  payment  systems  issued  by  the  Banca  d’Italia  on  24  February  2004. 

Payment  systems  oversight  is  a  core  competence  of  the  Eurosystem  and  the  common  oversight 

policy defined by the Governing Council is the basis for the Banca d’Italia’s oversight activities. 

Article  3  of  the  draft  regulation  sets  out  that  system  operators  will  submit  regular  reports  to  the 

Banca  d’Italia  on  the  quantitative  and  qualitative  characteristics  of  their  activity.  The  ECB 

recommends that the design, reception and processing of these reports is performed in a way that 

allows the data to be aggregated and the resulting statistics to be delivered to the ECB. 

3 

 
 
11.  SEPA 

The  changes  to  the  BI-COMP  system  are  clearly  intended  to  take  account  of  two  important 

Eurosystem goals: creating SEPA and setting up SEPA-compliant infrastructure allowing for euro 

area-wide interoperability. In this respect the Eurosystem welcomes the migration from national to 
SEPA-compliant infrastructures in order to foster competition4.  

12.  This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 1 November 2005. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

4  

See  ‘Towards  a  single  euro  payments  area  -  Third  progress  report’,  2  December  2004;  available  on  the  ECB  website 
(www.ecb.int). 

4