the framework of the broader process of completion of the european union, can further stabilize conditions in european markets if it is instituted rigorously and in its entirety. it will help to safeguard savings by countering the sovereign risk component engendered by fears of euro reversibility. italy ’ s banks are feeling the repercussions of a financial and economic crisis for which they bear no responsibility. but they are also suffering the consequences of slowness or failure to adapt their business operations, efficiency, service quality and organization to the evolution of the markets. they must continue to do their part with a courageous effort of renovation. bis central bankers ’ speeches

authority that can enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the system in the sepa process is the adoption of “ open ” fee structures. the aim is to give merchants ample room for choice in negotiating acceptance fees differentiated by instrument ( for example, prepaid card or credit card ) and circuit ( for instance, pagobancomat and maestro ), thereby undoing the widespread practice of blending the rates on transactions with different cards even under competing schemes. this is an approach that has found a counterpart at national level in the action of the bank of italy and the antitrust authority to open up the market to the new “ multi - bank ” technologies that allow transactions carried out at a pos to be transmitted for settlement to a selection of banks rather than to a single reference bank, in order to enable merchants to negotiate fees on a competitive basis. security the other key feature for the adequacy of card circuits within the sepa context is security, i. e. a scheme ’ s capacity to reduce the risks of fraudulent or illicit use of payment instruments. as i noted earlier, the overall incidence of fraud is declining thanks to the changes connected with the migration to sepa. the ratio of fraudulent to total transactions carried out with debit, credit or prepaid cards now stands at 0. 05 per cent in italy, in line with the international standards and down from the peak of 0. 07 per cent in 2006. the improvement is surely due to faster replacement of cards that only have a magnetic stripe with cards equipped with an emv chip, in compliance with the common standard for sepa and for the international card circuits. a factor contributing to this result has been the action of the bank of italy in its oversight function to encourage circuit operators to adopt technologically more secure devices as swiftly as possible, consistent with the expectations of sepa, accompanied by the application of mechanisms aimed at shifting the pecuniary liability for losses caused by fraud to the operators that are non - compliant with the new security standards. among payment cards, prepaid cards have lower rates of fraud ( 0. 02 per cent ), which has evidently favoured their popularity. renewed threats are being posed especially for online transactions : cases of phishing and hacking to acquire sensitive personal data for the illegal use of payment instruments are on the rise. strengthening users ’ confidence requires preventive action, with recourse to new technologies and to incentive mechanisms ( such as “ liability shift ” clauses ) that have produced good results in the