. consequently, whereas consumer credit cards are the biggest driver of revenue in the us payments industry6, their role in the euro area is less prominent. it has been rightly pointed out in one of the presentations today that, in contrast to the us, the sustainability of euro area 332. 4, us 312 million, source : statistics pocket book march 2013, 2011 figures. us €12. 1 trillion ( ppp ), euro area €9. 4 trillion ( ppp ), source ibid. us €29, 600 hgdi per capita ( ppp ), euro area €18, 700 hgdi per capita ( ppp ), source ibid. us 8. 3 % of hgdi, euro area 13. 2 % of hgdi, source ibid. us, 366 transactions, euro area 183, source : red book for us, sdw for euro area, 2011 figures. source : mckinsey. bis central bankers ’ speeches card business models in the euro area depends – notably because of regulatory interventions – on improvements in efficiency and on the cost side, and not on driving revenue. an occasional paper published by the ecb in september 2012 entitled “ the social and private costs of cash and retail payment instruments – a european perspective ” shows that in europe debit card payments have on average the lowest social costs per euro transaction value. in other words, society may benefit from an increase in their usage. the same paper reported that cheques were the most expensive form of payment. thus, they are not part of the integration efforts in the retail payments market in europe. in the us however, despite a steady decline, cheques still play an important role as a cashless payment instrument. in fact, they are used more often than credit transfers and direct debits put together. the low number of electronic payments ( i. e. credit transfers and direct debits ) in the us has not only to do with consumer preference and systemic restrictions on consumerinitiated transfers but also with the set - up of batch processing of electronic payments. the ceo of western union has commented that bank - to - bank credit transfers in the us are so complicated that banks ask western union to process them. 7 as you heard this morning, the creation of domestic credit transfer and direct debit schemes formed the basis of the single euro payments area ( sepa ). these electronic payment instruments facilitate straight - through - processing ( stp ) and are

yves mersch : aligning accountability with sovereignty in the european union - the ecb's experience speech by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the ecb legal conference, frankfurt am main, 4 september 2017. * * * ladies and gentlemen, let me also welcome you on behalf of the executive board to the ecb legal conference 2017. today and tomorrow we will discuss matters that are relevant not just to the ecb and the legal community, but also to the public. the legal order indeed has a direct impact on all our daily lives. and it is of crucial importance to what we do at the ecb. with the ratification of the eu treaties, the citizens of europe made us independent and gave us a clear mandate. so it is entirely legitimate that we are held to account. we need to be able to show that we continue to act in accordance with our mandate ; we do not need to enter into a contentious debate about changing it. in fact, the demand for accountability has been increasing across advanced economies and across institutions. it ’ s a trend that reflects questions stemming from the crisis as well as societal and technological change – people want more answers, more quickly. but we need to be mindful that direct, instant and constant communication does not necessarily translate into stronger accountability. in our constitutional democracies, parliaments and courts provide fundamental checks and balances, for good reasons. the increased attention and stronger scrutiny we are facing at the ecb also reflects the growing importance and more direct impact of decisions taken at european level. citizens in europe witness the power exercised by eu institutions – and they want to be able to see that it is not wielded arbitrarily or from behind closed doors. today, i will discuss how these trends are affecting the ecb. and i will aim to draw some conclusions on how to align accountability with sovereignty in the eu ’ s multilevel governance framework at a time when, according to the latest eurobarometer survey1, 68 % of those polled say they feel they are citizens of the eu as well as citizens of their own country. independent, accountable and european the survey shows that trust in the ecb has increased, albeit from a lower level than trust in other public institutions. still, during the crisis, reduced trust in public institutions tempted some people to reopen the debate on central bank independence. they often argued that independence was incompatible with accountability on the basis of the trends