radovan jelasic : development of the payment cards business in serbia speech by mr radovan jelasic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at the payment cards conference in the serbian chamber of commerce, belgrade, 6 june 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, allow me to greet you on behalf of the national bank of serbia on the occasion of the annual meeting on payment cards organized by the serbian chamber of commerce. this nowtraditional meeting has had a key role in bringing together the most important elements of the card business chain – card systems, banks, merchants and regulators, the cooperation among which is vital for resolving the key issues facing the card payment systems : • quality of services • security of payment • efficiency nbs achievements in these three key aspects over the past 12 months : 1. quality of services as many of you know, during the past year the dinacard system introduced new m - commerce services. namely, in addition to the service of pre - paid cell - phone top - up by sms, it is now also possible to pay post - paid bills of telekom srbija or to pay for the ordering of birth / marriage certificates by mobile telephone. the introduction of on - line dinacard transactions, in cooperation with the national airline company jat, is expected in the near future. since january, the dinacard system also offers the possibility of remitting money from a foreign country to the dinacard account in serbia at a very low cost – eur 5 for transfers of under eur 200, with the transfer effected in a single day. 2. security of payment this year, the national payment card centre will complete several major projects : a ) setting up a disaster recovery location b ) setting up a new pci - dss standard in the central switch c ) defining a schedule for the introduction of the new pci - dss standard for all dinacard system participants d ) technical specification of the dinacard chip, i. e. emv standard 3. efficiency of the payment system on 1 september 2007, the nbs introduced the so - called interchange into the dinacard system. for the majority of merchants, interchange in the dinacard system equals 0. 7 % of the purchase value ( 0. 25 % for petrol, 0. 4 % for utilities ). this measure is deemed only temporary. the nbs has completed a study on interchange in serbia and the eu countries and is cooperating closely with international card systems

. it isn ’ t, however, only a cyclical matter. this contrast between the economic performances of the key emerging countries and those of the older industrial economies in the past few years is seeing a marked acceleration in the shift in the world economy ’ s centre of gravity towards the east ( or west, if viewing from north america ). since the beginning of 2008, asia ( excluding japan ) has accounted for about 70 per cent of the growth in global gdp ( measured on a purchasing power parity basis ). it has also accounted for about 70 per cent of the growth in global demand over that period. this compares with a figure of about 30 per cent over the period 2000 – 2007. it has often been said that more domestic demand is needed in asia to help “ rebalance ” the global economy. there may have been a structural sense in which asian saving rates were “ too high ” and saving in some other countries too low. but it is not at all clear that more demand growth in asia is desirable at present. after all, global gdp growth has been strong, and prices for most commodities have been rising. just at the moment, from a global perspective, what we need is not so much faster domestic demand growth in asia, but a way of supplying more of asia ’ s demand for goods and services from the parts of the world where excess supply remains – mainly the north atlantic countries. of course exchange rates are relevant here. moreover, there is a secular increase in living standards occurring in asia and changes in consumption patterns are accompanying that. energy intensity is rising quickly with income. the steel intensity of production is already high in china but, with china seeking strong overall growth for many years yet, steel consumption could well continue to increase at a rapid pace. in india, steel intensity has a long way to rise yet. in many developing countries, higher living standards are also prompting changes to diets. the already clear trend towards higher protein consumption in emerging countries such as china potentially has major implications for demand ( and prices ) for livestock and grain feed globally. so it is not really surprising that rapid economic growth in asia is placing upward pressure on prices for foodstuffs, energy and minerals. there may be speculative demand adding to these pressures at the margin. but speculators can ’ t hold up prices over the long run. these big changes, which appear to be rather long - running, surely are mainly a result of powerful, and rather durable, fundamental forces. what is new