The re-engineering of payments processing, aiming at notably closing identified efficiency and safety gaps between cross-border and national payment infrastructures, appeared as a pillar for ensuring a high degree of monetary and financial integration in Europe. The Eurosystem has been closely involved in lifting obstacles to the European financial integration in particular with respect to those related to payment infrastructures, in support of market initiatives, including notably those of the EBA. The rationale for such an involvement is in line with the statutory role of the Eurosystem. Indeed, pursuant to the Treaty, the responsibility of ensuring the smooth functioning of payment systems is one of the basic statutory tasks of the Eurosystem. Therefore, the Eurosystem has participated so far in the process of integration under three roles. Firstly, as a service provider for clearing and settlement of large value payments, with the operation of the TARGET system. Secondly, as a catalyst of market participants’ efforts for the creation of a SEPA for retail payments. Thirdly, as an overseer of the functioning of systems processing payments in euro. 2. The present situation display a significant discrepancy in the integration of payment infrastructures  Let me now assess the achievements of the integration process of payment infrastructures. The degree of integration depends on the segment of the payment infrastructures market. While the large value payments segment has already reached a high level of streamlining and consolidation and will further progress with the launch of the TARGET 2 system, the retail payments segment is still very fragmented.

It would then be difficult to justify a situation in which individual incentives, those of bank managers and shareholders, are not aligned with the collective incentives to support the economy. We should not forget the experience of Japan over the past decade, where delays in restructuring and recapitalising the banking system undermined the recovery after the crisis. I am certain that this will not happen in Europe, if all parties play their part responsibly and are conscious of the role that each component of the economic and financial system must perform, in particular when faced with critical circumstances such as those we have experienced recently. For our part, I believe that the European Central Bank has demonstrated over this period that it is living up to its responsibilities. BIS Review 129/2009  7  Thank you for your attention. Chart 1: Euro area MFI sector’s financial assets transactions (percentages)  Source: ECB Euro Area Accounts. Chart 2: Changes in credit standards applied to the approval of loans or credit lines to enterprises (net percentages of banks contributing to tightening standards)  Source: Euro area bank lending survey. Notes: The net percentage refers to the difference between the sum of the percentages for “tightened considerably” and “tightened somewhat” and the sum of the percentages for “eased somewhat” and “eased considerably”. The net percentages for the questions related to the factors are defined as the difference between the percentage of banks reporting that the given factor contributed to a tightening and to an easing.