an advertising campaign on sepa. i encourage other communities to follow these examples. let me also be clear on one related point : banks should not try “ misusing ” sepa, and blaming sepa for any unpleasant changes. in that case, we could end up with a similar debate on perceived price increases as we did after the introduction of the euro. this would help nobody – neither the industry nor the customers. second, the industry should be clearer on the timetable for the “ dual circulation ” period of its instruments. the request for clarity on the end date also comes from end - user associations. interesting in this respect is the ecb ’ s recent study in cooperation with the banking industry analysing the economic impact of sepa. 2 the study confirms that two main forces will come to play. on the one hand, cross - border competition and new market participants could affect the revenue side of banks. on the other, automation and electronic processes will enable banks to achieve efficiency gains and cost reductions. the study concludes that the dual implementation phase of sepa should be as short as possible. as initial investments and higher adaptation costs are necessary in the short run, it is for the banks to decide how they will adapt to the new environment in the medium to long term. indeed, a shorter changeover to sepa will allow banks to focus more on their offering of innovative products in the medium to long term. one of the more active sepa communities, france, has already indicated an expected end date. this is a positive example, and other communities should follow. should, however, banks need more preparation when they move to the new sepa framework, the ecb and the european commission stand ready to consider supporting measures, including regulation, if required. let me now turn to the readiness of the industry for sepa card payments. i will briefly present some of the ecb ’ s views on cards. later today the panel will provide their views on the new cards landscape in sepa and i am looking forward to an interesting discussion. readiness of sepa card payments? card payments are closely monitored by the eurosystem because they are now the most popular non - cash payment instrument in the euro area. according to our blue book statistics, more than 15 billion card payments were made in the euro area in 2006. 3 between 2000 and 2006, we also noticed that the use of cards increased more quickly than the use of other instruments. the use of cards increased at an impressive rate of

and outstanding amounts for all kinds of securities. however, the quality management for this database, which is provided by secondly, the ecb could support ongoing market initiatives to improve transparency by offering its expertise in the international standardisation of definitions and classifications ( looking, for instance, at how to define a covered bond, a mortgage prepayment rate or the residency of a bond issuer or holder, or considering ways of consistently classifying counterparties ). this could include dialogue with the financial industry in the context of the possible enhancement – under consideration by the european commission – of the supervisory disclosure requirements under the so - called pillar 3 of the capital requirements directive so that the information to be disclosed is based on clear definitions and reported in a standard format and with sufficient frequency and timeliness. thirdly, as regards the short - term european paper market, the ecb is also involved in the actual compilation and publication of relevant statistics, and such transparency may come at a premium in the current circumstances. in general, more statistical data may be collected by ncbs on an ad hoc basis, from selected key players, for instance in relation to particular types of financial innovation. i also invite the stc to contribute to the enhancement of the financial literacy of euro area citizens and to further improve the accessibility of its statistics for specific target groups. conclusions european policy - makers need to have at their disposal a wide array of timely, high - quality statistics on which to base their decisions. the availability and quality of genuine euro area statistics – i. e. those which are more than just the sum of the national data of the member states – has improved very substantially over the last ten years. most notably, the ecb and eurostat now regularly and jointly release quarterly real and financial euro area accounts that are both integrated and comprehensive. and yet, i would strongly favour an improvement in the timeliness of such releases, which would then be even more useful for the ecb ’ s monetary policy - making. the credibility of euro area and relevant national statistics is of key importance to the ecb, and this also requires that such statistics be effectively communicated. this applies in particular to the hicp. in view of the importance to the ecb of euro area monetary, financial and external statistics, the governing council has endorsed a strategic vision that should further increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the compilation of these statistics by the eurosystem. this entails even more intensive cooperation not only among the statistics departments of the ncbs and