on the outlook for sepa. outlook for sepa the eurosystem ’ s outlook for sepa is a truly integrated market, where all euro payments are treated as domestic payments and the level of safety and efficiency is at least on a par with the best performing national payment systems today. the eurosystem will closely monitor the developments of sepa, and will pay particular attention to characteristics of an integrated market, such as singleness of the market, equal access to the market and equal treatment in the market. it is important the sepa will finally bring about the creation of a single market where payments are equal to and ideally will surpass the speed and convenience of the best performing current national systems. i expect the sepa project to be future - oriented and of a high quality. it is also important for the single market that all stakeholders are informed and consulted on their requirements in the development of sepa. all parties involved should intensify their dialogue on sepa. the ecb will increase its communication with users. we intend to hold a conference with corporations and merchants in 2007. conclusion let me now conclude. sepa is crucial for the euro area, because it fosters financial integration and brings benefits to the citizens. considerable efforts have been made to enhance financial integration, and more efforts are still to be made to achieve a truly integrated market. taking a longer - term perspective, sepa should be seen as a continuous project of steps towards financial integration. the ecb and national central banks of the euro area will provide guidance and assistance to make sepa a success. i am confident that the changes initiated by the industry in cooperation with authorities will pave the way for an integrated and more competitive retail payments market for the euro area, which will foster innovation, better products and services, and better prices. thank you for your attention.

gertrude tumpel - gugerell : eu priorities for investment funds and eu securities infrastructures speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the eurofi conference, nice, 11 september 2008. * * * 1st part of the panel on “ eu priorities for investment funds ” : question 1 : do you see a way in which the target 2 - securities platform would impact on the fund industry? answer 1 : as we have heard by my panel colleagues, several regulatory initiatives are undertaken with the aim of creating a single market in financial services, including the current fund industry. the fund industry can benefit from new business opportunities which target2 - securities will provide, as the fund industry will have access to a larger set of european securities, from deeper and more liquid markets. this will provide the fund industry with a new diversification perspective for their portfolio at a better and more transparent price of trading securities within a single european market. the fund industry will likewise benefit from the cost savings which has been identified as part of the t2s business case. these benefits will be passed through the wholesale sector – down the value chain – to the fund industry – all the way through to the retail market for the benefit of europe. furthermore, as the characteristics and national practices of the european fund industry remains fragmented, the target2 - securities platform can settle investment funds shares / units, in markets where these are dematerialised, listed in a csd and where the characteristics are closer to those of securities. question 2 : will cost savings arise for asset managers? answer 2 : asset managers, where the trading of investment funds shares / units are settled in target 2 - securities, will benefit from the economies of scale and have similar advantages as other market participants and users of target2 - securities. furthermore, they will benefit from streamlining and the reduction of back office costs for cross border post - trading processing and obtain similar type of saving as found for custodians and banks using t2s – which are within the range of eur 50 - 60 millions of cost savings per year – which shall be passed through to customers including among others assets managers. 2nd part of the panel on “ eu priorities for eu securities infrastructures : ladies and gentlemen, i would share with you our priorities for securities infrastructures and, if i may, offer some ideas to stimulate the european debate on new initiatives. i welcome the various private and public initiatives and