( ecbs ) is pursuing several activities such as the introduction of an international bank account number ( iban ). but, due to problems in the implementation of developed standards, its work has so far been none - too effective. another approach to cross - border payments is the linkage of automated clearing houses. this solution has been hindered in germany by the banking associations protecting profitable fees and hampering a strategic cooperation. as far as the european banking associations are concerned, they are not yet ready to design a common standard for retail payments. at all events, some progress can be identified in in - house, club and special associations ’ solutions. owing to their global availability, the card market is dominated by the american credit card systems. the eurocheque card as a strategic european response is widely used only in a few countries. the maestro functionality will allow a gradual expansion worldwide. at all events, the eurocheque cards are still successful as an access medium for atms and in their direct debit function. especially in germany, they are quite important : approximately 60 million cards using ec technology are in circulation. prepaid cards are a logical development of the eurocheque card with a common security access and clearing standard. but their system faces drawbacks due to relatively high transaction and turnover fees charged to retailers. since there are only national solutions, american cards have expanded their global dominance, despite well designed european systems. attempts to cooperate internationally, for example, by the french and german banking industry on the major german prepaid card system seem to have stagnated. not only chips on cards but also networks have gained in importance for payment and settlement systems. the internet is inevitably moving from a pure access medium ( for home banking, for instance ) into an independent carrier of payment systems on a local, regional, and global basis. as part of electronic commerce, the internet is even governmentally subsidised, as it is in the united states, for example. international financial authorities are gradually taking an interest in a controlled use of the internet. chip cards used on the “ net ” will go beyond their function as a pure access or storage medium. but this inevitably requires a common security strategy. current barter clubs might also spread globally by using the internet. central banks regard the dissemination of this electronic money to be in its early stages at present. but they suspect a possible loss of control over the money stock and interest rate movements if the amounts transferred through these systems become significant. they

systems. since the european systems for the cross - border use of securities are not yet fully designed, the central banks are preparing the what is known as correspondent central banking model ( ccbm ), with the foreign central bank acting as correspondent. the ccbm will serve as an interim solution for the cross - border use of securities until a private sector system has been put in place. a private system of this kind is the solution of the european central securities depository association ( ecsda ), using bilateral links between the domestic and foreign central securities depositories with an efficiency comparable to that of target. taking an overall view of payment systems at the beginning of next year, target will not be the only european scheme ; there will also be several net settlement systems. owing to their net characteristics, those systems cannot provide an immediate finality of payments. participants not fulfilling their due payments may - under certain circumstances - even cause an unwinding of all transactions. allowing, on the one hand, for liquidity - saving through the netting of payment orders, there is, on the other hand, the risk of a liquidity trap since the settlement is final only at the end of the business day. the operators of net settlement systems, which are for example the eba clearing, the eaf 2 and snp ( systeme net protege ) have their own individual strategy for preparing for stage three of emu. at all events, some changes will be brought about by the lamfalussy standards and the requirement for cross - border net systems to settle in central bank money. the choice and, ultimately, the success of the different schemes will depend on issues such as liquidity demand, early finality, security and, last but not least, availability characterised by execution times, operating hours and days. cost and fees for participation in payment systems are another factor which cannot be considered unimportant. looking at the european payment systems of the future, allow me to make a forecast from my personal point of view. at the moment, the future development of coexisting payment and settlement systems is still undecided. but some trends towards the respective systems can be identified. target as the central banks ’ gross system will be the basis for all large - value monetary policy transactions. bearing in mind that all cross - border payments of large amounts will be best served by processing through target due to the immediate finality of payments in this system, central banks will also act as a settlement provider for other