’ earnings. on the other hand, an electronic, fully automated sepa environment means that banks will benefit from efficiency gains and potential economies of scale. the ecb ’ s study also reflects banks ’ expectations that, in the future, more use will be made of more alternative, innovative payment methods than cash. 1 the ecb, as well as the national central banks, are striving for more integration in the financial markets. public authorities are responsible for providing an adequate framework that is conducive to such financial integration, i. e. legislation and rules for cross - border transactions that guarantee a level playing - field for all market participants. the adoption of the payment services directive in 2007 was a major step in this regard. now it just needs to be transposed into national law. the impact of sepa schmiedel ( 2007 ), “ the economic impact of the single euro payments area ”, ecb occasional paper series, august. the impact of sepa is expected to be substantial. a recent study conducted on behalf of the european commission 2 mentions that banks and their customers are expected to benefit from sepa. it is calculated that these benefits could reach €123 billion ( cumulative over six years ). however, the study also clearly points out that, if stakeholders are reluctant to embrace sepa and if the migration towards sepa does not take place in a timely and comprehensive manner, there are likely to be fewer benefits for customers and banks and corporates could even record losses – for example if participants have to run systems in parallel due to a slow migration process. for corporates, sepa will have an impact in three areas in particular : • first, sepa will simplify payments. for their incoming and outgoing euro payments, corporates will be able to use a pan - european, single set of instruments and arrangements based on the latest international standards. pricing is expected to be competitive and services will improve due to the competition at the pan - european level. • second, sepa provides greater clarity and will enable corporates to manage and transfer their liquidity in a cheaper and faster manner. sepa provides clarity on the timing of payment processing cycles and possible revocations. for example, thanks to sepa, corporates are aware of the maximum processing time for payments, as well as the maximum amount of time customers have to revoke a direct debit in europe. • third, additional standards are being created to optimise processes, as well

innovation, i. e. product and services innovation, i assume that, with sepa, the new payment instruments for europe will be at least as efficient, easy and secure as they are today in your own countries. furthermore, the banking industry is already thinking about expanding its range of sepa instruments to include pan - european online and mobile payments, which will lead to a further broadening and deepening of sepa. the second level is process innovation. the assumption is that sepa will lead to a better organisation of processes and constitute a first step towards the end - to - end straight - through processing ( stp ) of payments and collections. corporates will then be able to interact better with their counterparts and conduct their financial transactions more easily, irrespective of where they are located. the banking industry ( e. g. via the euro banking association ) has also started to look into electronic invoicing ( e - invoicing ), and the european commission is currently analysing the legal issues with regard to e - invoicing ( such as electronic signature ). in addition, the iso ( international organization for standardization ) has started work on harmonising procedures for reporting and bank statements. ultimately, the entire supply chain will be improved. third, the production process will be improved. for payments, this could mean that more use is made of outsourcing and payment factories, which, thanks to economies of scale, can also be offered by non - banks. banks could even set up their own “ non - banks ” to whom they could outsource some of their payment functions. it remains to be seen to what extent outsourcing could be expanded. corporates have two important roles to play in these different levels of innovation. on the one hand, they are playing an important role, together with the banking industry, in the creation of these new payment solutions and the related processes. on the other hand, they are also key players in the implementation of the european solutions. let me now conclude. conclusion since january 2008, payment services have been offered at a pan - european level. within sepa, there is no longer any difference between domestic and cross - border euro payments within sepa when using the sepa credit transfer. sepa has triggered an entire process of reforms which will further improve the functioning of the financial system. i am confident that corporates will play a role in creating a more innovative and integrated market. my “ fellow countryman ” joseph