weaknesses. what is now needed is that the parties involved in the various initiatives clarify their commitment and go ahead. whether all independently or with joined forces, this is of course up to the market. but we need to get down to business now. conclusion in conclusion, encouraging work is taking place in the cards area. however, efforts have to be intensified. coming back to the payment habits of ancient sparta, i would like to note that cards have the potential to become a serious alternative for the huge iron bars of our times, which is cash! however, this can only be done with harmonised business rules, standards and one or more additional card schemes in place at the european level. to get there, we need leadership and vision. regarding the rules and standards for the cards business, i call upon the epc to show this leadership and vision. regarding the additional european card scheme, i call upon the various parties to the individual initiatives to show leadership and vision, to set up additional european card schemes. s. carbo valverde, s. chakravorti and f. rodriguez fernandez : “ the costs and benefits of interchange fee regulation : an empirical investigation ”, paper presented at a joint conference organised by the ecb and de nederlandsche bank, 25 / 26 may 2009. let me close by emphasising that harmonised european card schemes are not only the piece still missing in the sepa puzzle, but it would also be a crucial additional piece of the puzzle necessary for completing the european vision of a single market in general. our currency, the euro, has made an important contribution. but the area of card payments shows that the single market is still a case of work in progress, and that a lot more can be done – in the long term interest of the customer and the industry.

adequate formal credit. this challenge may be on account of factors such as information asymmetry on their financials and business viability, and also on account of limited formalization even today within the msme sector. many msmes lack comprehensive financial records or credit scores, and in some cases, they may not have sufficient collateral to support the scale of financing they require. these issues result in a substantial gap between the credit needs of these units and the available supplycreating what is known as the credit gap. five years ago, the report of the expert committee on msme ( chair : u. k. sinha ) constituted by rbi estimated this credit gap to be between 20 and 25 lakh crore, underscoring the pressing need to address the financial barriers that continue to constrain this vital sector. 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches rbi initiatives on its part, the reserve bank of india ( rbi ) has consistently prioritised the inclusion of msmes in the formal financial system through a range of targeted measures. one of the key initiatives is the priority sector lending ( psl ) guidelines, mandating a subtarget of 7. 5 per cent of banks'adjusted net bank credit for micro enterprises, while all loans to msmes qualify under psl. rbi has also promoted collateral - free lending by requiring banks not to insist on collateral for loans up to 10 lakh for micro and small enterprises ( mses ) and encouraging financial institutions to lend under the cgtmse scheme which carries zero risk weight for the guaranteed portion of loans. to address the issue of delayed payment to msmes, rbi has introduced several innovations. the trade receivables discounting system ( treds ) facilitates msmes'trade receivable financing through electronic platforms. the account aggregator ( aa ) framework and inclusion of gstn in the aa ecosystem streamline financial data access for msme lending. more recently, the unified lending interface ( uli ), launched as a pilot program in august 2023, allows msmes to access tailored, frictionless credit using digital data. additionally, rbi has implemented a revival and rehabilitation framework for msme loans up to 25 crore, providing an on the tap structured mechanism for stress resolution. in line with its commitment to capacity building, rbi also runs the namcabs 4 program, which familiarises bankers with the specific credit needs of the msme sector, helping to improve their understanding and support for msme financing. these efforts,