gertrude tumpel - gugerell : payments are becoming european speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the epc sepa direct debit launch event, brussels, 13 october 2009. * * * sepa direct debit launch we are here today to celebrate the forthcoming launch of the sepa direct debit ( sdd ). we are very pleased that this important step in the process of european integration towards a single payments area will soon be taken. on 2 november 2009 the sepa direct debit will be launched by the european payments council. from november onwards, direct debits in euro will be possible from anywhere in the european union and even beyond. 1 a direct debit payment is considered to be one of the most convenient ways of paying bills, especially for recurring expenses, because customers can be sure of paying on time, provided that there are sufficient funds in their accounts, and companies can be sure of receiving the money on time. it is also one of the most efficient, because the collection process can be fully automated. it is also a very safe means of payment, and it is worth emphasising that the sdd will have a higher level of security and customer protection than some of the major existing domestic direct debits. the sdd complements the sepa credit transfer ( sct ), which was launched as early as january 2008. although it has been possible to make cross - border credit transfers for decades, the launch of the sct marked the start of a new era, with faster transactions and lower costs. the advent of a european direct debit is a truly new payment service at a european level. the introduction of these two basic products has laid the foundations for a fully harmonised retail payments market. the sepa ( single euro payments area ) project has already delivered its first results. these will also form the basis for innovative new developments in payments, in particular a pan - european online payment solution, as well as in mobile payments and electronic invoicing. it is true that, when travelling or even living in a foreign country, one of the things that takes some getting used to is local payment habits and standards. when taking up office at the ecb in frankfurt, i, too, had to open an extra bank account for my german payments and acquaint myself with german payment rules, standards and practices. this experience is shared by many bank customers – both

' speeches numbers or by scanning a common quick response ( or better known as qr ) code. we do not need to suffer the agony of remembering our account numbers ever again. the rpp will be facilitated by a national addressing database ( nad ) and an interoperable qr code payment scheme. seamless and secure payments between bank and non - bank e - money accounts will also become a reality. given the overwhelming benefits from this initiative, it is incumbent on all of us to drive the promotion of rpp, such as in facilitating user registration with the nad and merchant adoption of the common qr code. let us make the rpp services a household service and transform all mobile phones into mobile wallets. the rpp should not be merely a banking service, but a lifestyle solution. the industry ought to build upon the rpp and enhance its research and development capabilities. one such area is through the publication of open application programming interfaces ( or better known as open apis ). based on our interaction with the banking community, there is interest for this among our banks. the bank ’ s survey last year indicated that more than 50 % of banks in malaysia view open api as a high priority. thus, the industry should leverage on open api to facilitate collaboration with fintech firms to introduce innovations and facilitate new use cases to enhance the rpp ’ s value proposition to businesses and consumers. notably, the rpp can offer a treasure trove of data. this can be mined to develop more tailored payment solutions, fraud detection capabilities, and to support potential strategic partnerships with financial or non - financial players. but as i mentioned earlier, confidentiality and privacy should not be compromised. part of future - proofing our payment systems is to enhance the efficiency of cross - border payment services. in this globalised world, there is a growing demand for faster, reasonably priced and more transparent cross - border payments. this will become even more important as international trade and investment linkages deepen, such as through the growth of e - commerce. yet, cross - border payment services still pale in comparison to domestic payments, which are increasingly real time and zero cost. paynet and the payment system operators in indonesia, singapore, thailand and vietnam have entered into a memorandum of understanding ( mou ) to link their respective real - time payment systems. this will give rise to great opportunities for the region to forge closer economic and financial integration. the industry should capitalise on such developments to enhance their cross -