not improbable that some of the payments now made separately in rix will move to other platforms that enable instant payments. it is clear at any rate that the taxonomy used for payments ( large - value / retail, instant settlement / batch settlement and time - critical / not time - critical ) will become more blurred. the riksbank is standing at a crossroads here. should the riksbank continue to supply solely an infrastructure equivalent to rix that is primarily suitable for largevalue, time - critical payments during office hours on weekdays and leave the other settlement of payments between financial institutions to the private sector? or should the riksbank also supply an infrastructure that enables settlement in central bank money in seconds 24 / 365? or to put it a different way : should the riksbank's payment system be open all the time? do we need a settlement service 24 / 365? the answer is not entirely clear, but much indicates that the riksbank will find it more difficult to carry out its task of promoting a safe and efficient payment system in the future if we don't raise our level of ambition regarding the services now offered to rix participants. i see two main reasons for this. first, settlement in central bank money is the safest means of settling payments. private settlement platforms can, with the aid of the central bank, imitate part of the security offered by settlement in central bank money. in sweden, this is done by the institutions that are participants in bir allocating money in a special client funds account in rix that acts as collateral for the payments settled in bir. this hybrid system has enabled instant payments in sweden without the riksbank ’ s payment system having to be rebuilt from scratch. as long as the volumes are relatively small, this type of system is fully adequate, but financial stability will become increasingly dependent on the reliability of these hybrid systems if the volumes increase substantially. sooner or later one therefore reaches a point where it is difficult to see the value of a hybrid system that tries to copy the safety offered by central bank money if the central bank could just as well offer this settlement itself. the riksbank would in addition be able to offer participants better and more cost - efficient liquidity management than is possible in a private system. second, the payment system is one of the economy's critical infrastructures. the institution that is responsible for the settlement of payments between financial institutions gains a considerable influence over the payment system as a

de portugal ’ s participation in the european system of central banks ( escb ) and the legal committee ( known as legco ), which has played a crucial role in developing the emu. on 7 july 1998, the ecb approved the rules of procedure, which laid down the establishment of escb committees – composed of representatives of the ecb and of the national central bank of each participating member state – to assist in the work of the escb. the legal committee is one such committee. the committees established under this regulation assist in the work of the decision - making bodies of the ecb, specifically the executive board and the governing council and are composed of representatives of each of the national central banks and the ecb. different committees have different compositions, depending on whether matters fall within the field of competence of the eurosystem, the escb or – since 2014 – the single supervisory mechanism. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches the establishment of these committees was the expression of a true conceptual system that was behind the preparatory work conducted on the monetary pillar during stage three of emu. this committee structure – different from the technical committee procedure present in other european decision - making bodies – invokes the idea of a participatory decision - making process which benefits from the sharing of experience and know - how among national central banks, under the aegis of the ecb. the ecb ’ s legal committee is a genuine example of the identity of the eurosystem and the escb. taking over from the working group of legal experts, which operated under the emi, legco is a committee with privileged insight due to its cross - cutting nature, whose assistance is invariably requested by all other eurosystem committees, the executive board and the governing council of the ecb. this is also the reason why, 20 years after its creation, it is no exaggeration to say that this committee acts as a repository that is a vital tool to understand and interpret developments in the eurosystem and the escb, and will certainly be called upon during the implementation of potential reforms. 2. regardless of one ’ s opinion on the merits of the european monetary union, the creation of the ecb was a major historical landmark – which had a significant effect on europe and each of its countries and a profound impact on international monetary relations and consequently on the economy and international politics. several generations of banco de portugal employees have participated in the construction of emu at different times : first,