solutions to apply the first of the general principles for international remittances services, namely : “ the market for remittances should be transparent and have adequate consumer protection ”. in line with this principle, many countries are developing national remittance price comparison databases in order to increase market transparency, providing information to migrants who want to send money home that should enable them to acquire the information essential to informed choice. at present the market for remittances is not always fully transparent. two issues are particularly relevant : total price and speed of service. the cost of a money transfer is not actually easy to calculate due to two variable components, i. e. transfer fee and exchange rate. consequently, the consumer may not know exactly the amount of money the receiver will get. the difficulty is compounded for migrants, who due to poor financial education, language barriers and time constraints, may have difficulty in accessing certain services, in particular bank services. this may result in the impossibility of comparing alternative remittances services and finding the most economical. the ready availability of information fosters competitive markets, as demand will tend to concentrate on the most efficient remittance service providers, those offering quick service at lower cost. the national websites compliant with the world bank standards provide all the information required for informed decisions : the fees charged, the exchange rate applied and the time necessary for the money to be available. the bank of italy welcomes the creation of a national price comparison website and will support its management, facilitating data collection and providing information on the most significant corridors and on the latest updates in the retail payment market. this initiative is consistent with the overall approach taken by the bank in performing payment system oversight, whose aim is to promote efficiency. in this particular market efficiency is all the more important in view of the enormous impact that remittances may have on the economy of an emerging country. the analysis of the pricing of a payment instrument is one of the key indicators of a market ’ s performance : when the price reflects the cost of the payment instrument, the market is efficient. efficient funds transfer, with no waste of time or money, enables migrants to channel their earnings to productive ends. in italy the regulatory framework on transparency in the payment market will be enhanced by the payment services directive. the objectives of the new legal framework are to heighten competition in the retail payment market, strengthen user protection and develop more efficient payment services. a special set of provisions is dedicated to transparency

jon nicolaisen : digital challenges for the payment system speech by mr jon nicolaisen, deputy governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), at the financial industry ’ s digital services conference, oslo, 9 june 2016. * * * introduction technology advances rapidly, giving rise to opportunities and challenges. norges bank will actively promote efficient solutions for payments and financial transactions. i presume that the participants at this conference have the same goal, so we have common interests in this area. the norwegian banking industry was among the first to adopt digital solutions. the giro systems were integrated and a common debit card system was put into place. the first internet bank giro was available already 20 years ago. internet giro payments and bankaxept card payments in shops are cheap, efficient and widely used. payment system costs in norway have been considerably lower than in most other countries for a long time. common solutions do not impede competition. banks and other operators have their own customer interfaces, services and prices. but underlying that are a common infrastructure and common standards. this provides economies of scale and accessible solutions for customers, regardless of where they hold an account. cooperation has rendered the payment system efficient and robust. new operators and new technology are now entering the payment market. this can, in principle, strengthen competition and improve efficiency. but it is important that the competition is rooted in a robust and cost - efficient common infrastructure. norges bank will actively pursue profitable solutions in the best interest of all the parties concerned. payments should become faster norway ’ s efficient payment system is a competitive advantage for the norwegian business sector. this is positive, but there is no room for complacency. other countries are catching up and may be ahead of us in some areas, in particular in terms of real time payments and the infrastructure for mobile payments. we have a job to do here. the norwegian banking industry has collectively developed a payment solution where money is immediately received by the payee, so - called instant payments. a common system offers several advantages : the solution is cost - efficient and ensures fast payment services for customers. all banks and their customers can use the solution and it is not owned by an individual private market participant. yet, to date, few banks offer instant payment services. this may be due to technical factors, or because mobile apps need to be more user - friendly. it may also be that the competition among participants to promote their own solutions is ultimately an obstacle to an overall efficient infrastructure. competition is