, i had welcomed the european commission ’ s decision to organise a public hearing on the issue, which took place last wednesday. we in the eurosystem have been very explicit in our comments on this topic and we have been calling for a regulation setting a migration end date for sct and sdd. indeed, we have gone one step further and have announced preferred dates, i. e. the end of 2012 for credit transfers and the end of 2013 for direct debits. when it comes to the question of which payment instruments should become the credit transfer and direct debit schemes used for euro payments in the eu, for me it is obvious that the answer is the sct and sdd. this is, in fact, the position of the eurosystem, which was clearly communicated in the seventh sepa the survey involved 42 european banks in nine countries. see the press release ( in german ) available at : http : / / www. bearingpoint. de / pmi _ sepa _ 081110. pdf progress report. of course, it is one thing to set a goal, but it is far harder to achieve it. however, i am confident that the european commission will make this possible through a legislative proposal. despite the debate surrounding the end date in the past few weeks, we should not forget that we all share the same goal : we all want to make sepa a reality. of course, sepa will only be a success story if it goes beyond credit transfers and direct debits. this brings me to my next new year ’ s resolution : new year ’ s resolution number two : let ’ s establish the requirements for a competitive cards market any cards market should meet a number of requirements in order to facilitate competition and efficiency. the principle of separating card scheme management from processing entities is one of the core elements of sepa that aims to guarantee open access. the sepa credit transfer and direct debit schemes are built on this principle ; it should be applied in the cards market too. this would give banks a range of options to choose from as regards the processing of card payments. to allow for the efficient processing of card payments in sepa, the same set of message standards as used for the processing of direct debits and credit transfers should be adopted, i. e. iso 20022. to bridge the gap that exists between this strategic vision and the reality, a framework for the processing of card transactions should be developed and the processing infrastructure providers

progress toward widespread vaccinations in many countries. this recovery has not had a dramatic effect yet on businesses engaged in or supporting oil and gas extraction, but there are signs of a turnaround. so far this year, retail gasoline prices have been rising sharply, and the north american rig count is now the highest it has been since last april. but in contrast to the broadening improvements in many sectors of the economy, an area i continue to be concerned about is the outlook for u. s. businesses, particularly small businesses, which have borne the brunt of the effects of the pandemic. we are now more than a year into the pandemic, and many small businesses are continuing to struggle in their efforts to remain open. recently, the bureau of labor statistics ( bls ) released counts of business closures for the second quarter of last year, when most face - to - face businesses were largely shuttered. 2 in that quarter, the closure rate for establishments showed a sharp increase to 9 percent, compared with an average of about 5 percent during 2019. as part of the fiscal stimulus package passed in june last year, the paycheck protection program ( ppp ) and other government supports helped many businesses withstand the extended period of inactivity over the spring and summer. many of the shuttered businesses were at least partially reopened in the second half of last year. but as virus cases surged toward the end of 2020, many state and local governments reimposed restrictions on business activity, and others postponed plans to lift their existing restrictions. even today, more than a year later, some sectors, like restaurants, leisure, and tourism, are continuing to face major effects from pandemic - related social distancing, forced closures, and capacity limits. these restrictions may have been helpful in containing the pandemic, but they appear to have disproportionately impeded small firms ’ ability to maintain their operations and revenue sources, leading to substantial cash flow pressures. small businesses will be helped in the near term with a new round of ppp lending, which included adjustments to terms that will make forgiveness of these loans less onerous than before. even with this, financial pressures on many small businesses remain acute, and i am concerned that a growing number of small businesses have already been closed permanently or are on the verge of failure. the bls data are not yet available beyond the second quarter of last year, so, from that source, it