to find alternatives to this fragmented landscape. appropriate solutions may not be based on the european schemes, but they may be provided by large platforms which can offer the desired network effects thanks to their large global customer base. but there are currently only a limited number of providers allowing for payments at pan - european level. this leads me to the following question : how should we consider the dependency on only a handful of big payment providers from a competition and diversity point of view? in the long run, a lack of competition may reduce the quality of services to the detriment of their users. isn ’ t there a need for truly pan - european instant payment solutions, which would offer support to many payment providers? the sct inst scheme – a pan - european scheme for instant payments – and the pan - european market infrastructure for processing such payments, like tips, represent a unique opportunity for developing a truly pan - european solution for instant payments at the point - of - interaction. such solution could be designed to be as convenient as existing solutions at point - of - interaction that are based on other payment instruments. the inherent benefits of instant payments would thus materialise for all stakeholders. consumers would be able to use them anywhere in europe and eventually also at global level. users would also have a consistent payment experience within and between countries. by accepting instant payments at the point - of - interaction, merchants across europe, too, would benefit from more efficient liquidity management and higher cost efficiencies. those merchants or other businesses that today do not accept cards due to their associated costs could offer users the opportunity to pay electronically. and finally banks could also benefit from higher cost efficiencies and generate new revenue streams. they would also be in a position to design such a solution under their own governance according to the needs of their customers. to make this vision a reality, further actions from market participants are needed. these actions do not need to be revolutionary. as i said before, europe already has with sct inst scheme and tips some of the necessary building blocks in place to develop such a solution. in order to realise the potential of such a european solution, cooperation is once again essential. banks, merchants and other relevant stakeholders across europe should work together to find the best way forward. increasing efficiency in wholesale payments 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches let me now briefly turn to the area of wholesale payments and our plans to increase efficiency in this segment. since well before tips, the eurosystem

there has, for example, been a rapid growth of the euro - denominated private bond market. the euro did not cause this trend, but it has given it a major impetus. the process of monetary policy - making and its implementation has functioned efficiently. the evolution both of external inflation forecasts and of inflation expectations derived from the analysis of long - term interest rates ( in particular, index - linked bonds ) indicates that the financial markets and economists widely expect medium - term price developments that are in line with the ecb ’ s definition of price stability. obviously, bond yields and many external forecasts incorporate expectations of future policy changes and therefore offer a judgement on prospective monetary policy decisions, as well as on decisions taken in 1999 and 2000. as such, they provide a positive assessment of the overall monetary framework. actual inflation in 1999 stood at 1. 1 %, compatible with price stability. although inflation has increased this year, it is still relatively low, both historically and compared with the united states, for instance. above all, as indicated earlier, monetary union has proven to be a catalyst for major improvements in the structural economic environment. in this respect, there is thus also reason to expect that the euro area could benefit over time from the advances in the new technologies, as the united states has apparently been doing already. europe is thus changing and much has already been achieved. the advances are noteworthy, although they are not always appreciated, not even by europeans themselves. there remains a great deal to be done in order to further upgrade the structural environment. however, this in itself creates opportunities for the future as there is a large potential to be exploited. 3. outlook for euro area economy let me now turn to the conjunctural side of the economic environment. where economic growth is concerned, the euro area economy has impressively overcome the negative mood prevailing in early 1999, recovering to reach a state of affairs not seen for more than a decade. real gdp growth in the euro area has shown a strong performance since mid - 1999, with four consecutive quarters of 0. 9 % growth, quarter - on - quarter, and the forces underlying sound growth in the medium term remain in place. the external environment remains favourable. domestic demand is expected to continue to be strong as well. consumption is benefiting from high consumer confidence and further increases in employment, and investment is being stimulated by higher corporate profitability and increasing rates of capacity utilisation. domestic financing conditions are also good. this positive outlook