These include especially the adequate involvement of all relevant host authorities; a coordinating role for the home country supervisor, with due respect to the responsibilities of host authorities; and arrangements – to be devised by the EU committees of supervisors established under the Lamfalussy approach – to foster consistent procedures and policies across different supervisory colleges. Lastly, closer ongoing cooperation should be pursued not only between supervisors, but also between supervisors and central banks. Such joint work, to be pursued at all levels (nationally, regionally and globally), would in particular aim to enhance the integration of supervisors’ micro-prudential functions and central banks’ macro-prudential functions in the assessment of possible financial risks and vulnerabilities. This would make a significant contribution to raising awareness of emerging financial system imbalances at an earlier stage and devising effectively coordinated public sector action to address them. Furthermore, given the growing role of correspondent and custodian banks in payment and settlement systems, closer cooperation between supervisors and central banks, in their role as overseers, is increasingly important to ensure a comprehensive and consistent treatment of the respective financial risks. Conclusion Mesdames et Messieurs, permettez-moi de conclure mon intervention. La mise en place d’un marché des capitaux européen sûr, efficient et totalement intégré est une contribution essentielle que l’Europe peut apporter dans le cadre d’un processus harmonieux de mondialisation financière. Des progrès significatifs ont déjà été réalisés dans ce domaine, mais de nouvelles avancées doivent être réalisées.

The main priority at the current juncture is for all stakeholders to make every possible effort to achieve the full and  4  BIS Review 86/2008  timely implementation of SEPA in order to ensure that a critical mass of retail payments will be made on the basis of SEPA instruments by end 2010. As ECOFIN concluded in January this year, public authorities have an important catalytic function in driving the migration process to SEPA forward, namely by supporting and explaining SEPA in their communication with their national constituencies. In addition to this political task, they also have an operational role to play in becoming early users of SEPA products and services. As initiators and receivers of high volumes of payment transactions, public authorities – such as national and local administrations, tax authorities, social security agencies and pension funds – are key stakeholders which can make SEPA a success. We have noted that there is still a lack of information and awareness about SEPA among the public at large. Greater effort should be made to communicate the benefits of SEPA to corporate enterprises and private customers at European and national levels. While we expect that the critical mass of retail payments will have moved to SEPA payments by the end of 2010 on a voluntary basis, an official end-date for the migration period may need to be set, by which time the use of national credit transfers and direct debits should have been phased out.