more money to service the growing volumes of financial market transactions, the reserve bank remained indulgent about these “ excessive ” increases in the money supply, as long as inflation continued to decline gradually. these developments, however, impinged on the credibility of the continued use of m3 as the intermediate target of monetary policy in south africa, and opened up the way for unreasonable criticism of monetary policy decisions taken by the reserve bank. after more than four years of a persistent “ excessive ” growth in m3, with a clear downward trend in inflation at the same time, the question has arisen whether the time has not come for south africa to follow the example set by many other countries and to switch from a money supply anchor for monetary policy to a more direct targeting of the ultimate goal, that is, inflation in its own right. in many statements made since 1997, the reserve bank has expressed its support for gradually moving towards this new approach. in the annual monetary policy statements issued by the bank in march 1998 and again in march 1999, the bank indeed distinctly moved towards what it referred to as “ informal ” inflation targets. the view was expressed that this new approach was indeed more clearly linked to the directive contained in the constitution of the republic of south africa in terms of which the reserve bank has been tasked with the responsibility of protecting the south african rand in the interest of economic development in the country. the bank has always held the view that, in the case of south africa, it is essential that the government through the minister of finance should endorse reserve bank targets or alternatively set quantitative inflation targets together with the reserve bank for the bank to pursue. inflation expectations play a major part in the ongoing inflation process, and a commitment by not only the reserve bank but also government to lower inflation will add credibility to a resolute and collective objective of bringing inflation in south africa in line with the relatively low levels that now apply in most other countries of the world. a recent view expressed by the minister of finance that south africa should consider the possibility of introducing inflation targeting, fuelled renewed speculation on the possibility of such a move in the near future. the ignorance revealed about inflation targeting in the subsequent public debate exposed once again the need for a better understanding of the intricate process of inflation in a modern economy. it is often overlooked, for example, that inflationary pressures can be created in many sectors of the economy and, if not depressed at source, can require draconian monetary policy measures to avoid monetary accommodation

exemptions from strong customer authentication. in addition to these requirements, payment service providers applying the exemptions should perform the monitoring, as stated in article 21 of commission delegated regulation ( eu ) 2018 / 389, and make the results available to bnb upon request. charges on cross - border payments in euro and currency conversion charges regulation ( eu ) 2019 / 5183 introduces the requirement for payment service providers in non - euro area member states to levy equal charges for cross - border payments in euro and for corresponding national payments of the same value in the national currency of the respective member state. such a legal requirement has existed so far only in respect to equal charges for national and cross - border payments in euro. the requirement for equal charges will become mandatory for payment service providers as of 15 december, 2019. in addition to the requirement for equal charges, the new regulation envisages requirements with respect to currency conversion charges related to card payments and electronic credit transfers which are expected to increase transparency and to ensure comparability in cases where a payment service user is faced with a choice between currency conversion alternatives f. according to the requirements concerning currency conversion charges related to card payments, payment service providers and the parties providing currency conversion services at an automated teller machine ( atm ) or at the point of sale shall provide information prior to the initiation of the payment transaction for the total currency conversion charges expressed as a percentage mark - up over the latest available euro foreign exchange reference rates issued by the european central bank. in addition, the payer must also be provided, prior to the initiation of the payment transaction, with information about the amount to be paid to the payee in both the currency used by the payee and in the currency of the payer ’ s account. with regard to the requirements for currency conversion charges related to electronic credit transfers, payment service providers will be obliged to inform the payer prior to the initiation of the payment transaction about the expected currency conversion charges applied to the credit transfer, the expected amount of the credit transfer in the currency of the payer ’ s account, as well as about the expected amount which will be transferred to the payee in the currency used by the payee. payment service providers will have to apply these requirements as of 19 april 2020. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches with regard to regulation ( eu ) 2019 / 518, regulation ( eu ) 2018 / 389 and the corrigendum of directive ( eu ) 2015 / 2366,