substantial, being equal to about 8 per cent of these banks ’ assets and 130 per cent of their tier 1 capital. the majority of the debt held by banks in each country is home - country debt but, not surprisingly for a common - currency area, there are also large cross - border holdings. this is particularly the case for italian debt, which is widely held by non - italian banks. given the rise in yields that has occurred in some countries, the market value of the bonds has declined significantly. greek debt, for example, has fallen in value by around 70 per cent. this means that even though the face value of greek debt is about €260 billion, the market value of the debt is now only about €75 billion ( graph 4 ). italian debt has fallen in value by 10 per cent. banks have brought some of these losses to account already, but they remain heavily exposed to further losses if the situation continues to deteriorate. graph 4 as i mentioned, concerns about these exposures have made investors and depositors more cautious. the cost of long - term funds has risen sharply ( though it remains below that reached during the global financial crisis ) and, for some euro - area banks, bond markets have largely closed. as such, very few bonds have been issued by euro - area banks recently ( graphs 5 and 6 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 5 graph 6 banks in some euro - area countries have also suffered large reductions in deposits. greek bank deposits have fallen by about 25 per cent over the past couple of years and deposits in irish banks by 10 per cent. italian and spanish banks have experienced a small fall in deposits. banks in germany and france, in contrast, have experienced increases ( graph 7 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 7 with banks under funding pressure, the ecb has had to increase its lending to banks. essentially, it currently allows euro - area banks to borrow as much as they need ( subject to the availability of eligible collateral ) at its policy interest rate, for periods up to three years. some banks have increased their use of ecb funding significantly : greek banks and irish banks are financing almost one - quarter of their balance sheets from either the ecb or their national central bank ( graph 8 ). for the banking system as a whole, however, central bank funding is equivalent to less than 3 per cent of liabilities. graph 8 bis central bankers ’ speeches european banks have also found it increasingly difficult to access us dollar

, including the government. new payments platform launched in february, the npp has been a collaborative effort over several years by a number of financial institutions, including the reserve bank. it enables individuals and businesses to make and receive payments in real time, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, and to send more complete https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2018 / sp - ag - 2018 - 08 - 23. html 4 / 7 23 / 08 / 2018 the reserve bank's government banking business | speeches | rba remittance information with payments. it also allows payments to be sent via a simple address, such as a mobile phone number. reflecting its complexity, the platform is still ramping up and additional services will come on line over the next few years. as far as the government's services are concerned, it will allow the government to make emergency payments at any time to assist individuals and households in distress. dhs currently makes in excess of 1, 000 emergency payments each day across the country, more in the immediate wake of a natural disaster. until now, given restrictions in the payments system, funds could only be fast tracked to recipients'bank accounts during business hours on australia's south - eastern seaboard. npp, instead, allows these payments to be made quickly at any time. the government's systems will communicate directly and securely with the reserve bank's, providing the government with certainty within seconds as to whether a payment has successfully reached a payee's bank account. similarly, the new platform allows payments by the government to be made on their scheduled dates, even if this occurs on a public holiday. npp also offers advantages for the government in the way its account funding arrangements are administered. significantly, it will allow the government to undertake ‘ just - in - time ’ funding. under protocols administered by the department of finance, balances needed by government agencies to fulfil their responsibilities are swept between agencies'transaction accounts and the government's core accounts at the reserve bank on a daily basis, with agencies required to provide up to 24 hours'notice for funds to be swept to transaction accounts. under npp, agencies could receive funding from the core accounts on the day they prepare the payments and, once received, make the payments in real time. potential exists in these arrangements to minimise balances held in agencies'transaction accounts and, as a result, reduce the government's net funding