issuing messages to the relevant stakeholders. let me focus on the first two instruments, the credit transfer and the direct debit. with the introduction of the sepa credit transfer ( sct ) on 28 january 2008, the first pan - european retail payment instrument has become available. almost all banks active in the payment business in europe ( i. e. about 4, 500 banks ) adhere to the sct scheme, i. e. they are able to offer and process the sct. likewise, most retail payment infrastructures that were processing credit transfers in euro have become sct scheme - compliant, i. e. they offer clearing and settlement of the sct. preparations for the second european payment instrument, the sepa direct debit ( sdd ), are ongoing. while the design of both the core service and the business - to - business service are finalised, solutions are required for practical implementation issues such as the ongoing legal validity of existing direct debit mandates, reachability of direct debit payees and in particular the multilateral interchange fee ( mif ), i. e. a transaction fee payable from the payer bank to the payee bank. the need for such transaction fee is challenged by dg - comp of the european commission. the banking sector, the european commission and the european central bank have been working towards a solution for some time, and the issue needs be resolved urgently so as not to endanger the launch of the sdd on 1 november 2009. despite the fact that the sepa project has been ongoing for about seven years and that a lot of product design and standardisation work has been undertaken and completed successfully, the practical implementation and adoption of the sepa, which is the ultimate litmus test of the success of the integration of retail payments in the euro area, is slow. for instance, after being in existence for over a year, only about 1. 9 % of total credit transfer volume in the euro area are sct transactions. 2 banks see the responsibility on the side of corporations and public administrations to bring the critical mass of payments to the sepa environment. in this context, i am very pleased to report that the ecb has migrated all its payments for salaries, bills etc. to sepa payments right from the start of the sepa in january 2008. corporations and public administrations claim that they can see the benefits of the sepa, but still take a cautious approach towards the actual implementation. one of the major difficulties

have hit the financial world over the past two years. they have played a role of safe haven, as market participants could rely on their smooth functioning and operation. the financial turmoil should reinforce our conviction that a well functioning, stable and integrated payment and securities settlement infrastructure represents a cornerstone of the whole european financial integration process. the current crisis should not be taken as an excuse to slow down the ongoing work on the market infrastructure, on sepa, target2 securities, ccbm2. in order to exploit its full potential, banks and central banks need to implement harmonised systems, schemes and procedures. such an integrated and harmonised system would lead to larger economies of scale, greater innovation and better services. therefore, it is precisely because of the financial turmoil that we need to strengthen our efforts towards providing more integrated, efficient, safe and reliable market infrastructures as backbones of our financial system. the fascination of the holy grail may be due to its very elusiveness. in contrast to that, and despite the recent setback, bringing the european financial integration process to completion remains an attainable goal. like the knights of the round table, we – market participants and policy - makers – need to stand up in front of these difficulties and respond to the financial crisis by supporting trust in the financial infrastructures and use their potential for further integrating the financial market.