BIS Review 97/2006  1  since Europe will be able to take advantage of what Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas and Helene Rey describe as the “exorbitant privilege” 3 . Payment systems of the Euroland countries do not follow these changes swiftly enough. These systems have supported national and international retail operations in various European currencies so far. The only exception were activities of the central banks under the aegis of the European Central Bank. These banks quickly developed and launched the TARGET system for real-time gross settlements of large volume euro transactions. As regards the cashless turnover in pan-European relations, foreign currency exchange savings were the only measurable benefit stemming from the introduction of the euro for the consumers. Apart from that, the settlement time and the costs of crossborder transactions remained on the same high level as before the implementation of the single currency. These costs were much higher than prices of national transactions. One of the causes was the lack of the appropriate technical infrastructure, discrepancies in information and business standards applied in individual countries and the willingness of the banking sector to gain financial benefits from higher fees for cross-border transactions. This problem was raised already at the very beginning of the implementation of the single currency in Europe and the lack of visible and effective activities undertaken to change the situation encouraged the European Union decision-makers to take regulatory action. The aim was to provide mechanisms for effective euro payments in the Euroland and uniform principles for cashless payments.

SEPA-related works in Poland are coordinated by the Polish Banking Association, which results from the approved model for SEPA implementation through self-regulation of the financial sector. The banking community holds consultations on payment systems with the NBP through the Payment System Council which is a consultative and advisory body of the Management Board of the NBP and follows developments on individual projects. The cooperation within the Council has led to the identification of main challenges, including currently: the specification of the pace of works performed in Poland as regards the implementation of approved SEPA standards and mechanisms, effective exchange of information between the interested parties, including those from outside the banking community, such as for instance clients of banks. The major directions of activities have also been prepared. Their aim is to prepare the Polish community for SEPA-related activities. The role of the PBA as the coordinator of SEPA works in Poland might change in the future if the approach based on the self-regulation model is discontinued in Europe and if the EU and ECB authorities apply a different model for SEPA adjustments (e.g. through issuing regulations for the banking sector) that could assume a greater role of the government and the central bank. We do not assume that this will be the case because the efficiently working self-regulation model might bring  BIS Review 97/2006  3  better solutions than a model enforced through regulations.