strengthen the position of europe in the growing global competition. standardisation in payment transactions remain an important topic for the escb and not just for the ecb. the implementation of monetary policy and a satisfactorily functioning economy require efficient payment systems. according to article 3 of the escb ’ s statute, one of the functions of the escb is therefore to promote the smooth functioning of the payment systems. article 22 of the escb ’ s statute actually gives the future ecb the right to make regulations to ensure efficient and sound clearing and payment systems within the community and with other countries. to that extent there may be a fairly reasonable distribution of functions within the escb in line with the subsidiarity principle laid down in the maastricht treaty. the ecb and the national central banks could be asked to act as intermediaries or coordinators for the banking industry in standardisation matters concerning payments. the fact that central banks may also be seen by the banking industry to be competitors in some cases, namely in large - value payment systems, has not proved to be a problem so far. providing a service of a neutral nature in relation to the various banking groups has always been a function of the central banks. the banking industry and the national central banks have cooperated successfully for years to devise and implement rules and systems for executing payments. i am therefore optimistic that the industry will continue to do this in cooperation with the ecb in future. the way the preparatory work for payment systems in stage 3 of monetary union has gone so far confirms my opinion. let us therefore meet the challenges that lie before us with enthusiasm and confidence. ladies and gentlemen, i expect that this seminar will provide important insights into the possibilities of improved cooperation in the field of standardisation between the eu commission, the european banking associations and the central depositories, on the one hand, and the future escb, on the other. i am convinced that the undisputed objective of an efficient european financial market cannot be achieved without successful standardisation.

of technical innovations and the speed of european integration. as far as the cross - border use of debit cards is concerned, a commendable start has been made here, and these efforts have been successful. perhaps we are therefore justified in thinking that progress will soon be made in the other areas for which solutions have not yet been found such as the interoperability of e - money systems. such progress would be desirable in achieving a standard european direct debits system as well. different national legal frameworks, customs and experience naturally do not make it easy to achieve common standards. even the security systems in payment transactions are still largely nationally oriented. in the end, the absence of common standards, and not just for retail payments, results in a de facto isolation of national payment systems. in the long run that certainly cannot be in europe ’ s interest because for the participating banks and their customers it can only compound the problem of segmented markets with little transparency but with relatively high prices and a low degree of efficiency. what conclusion are we to draw from all of this? the status quo of standardisation in europe ’ s cross - border payment systems is hardly satisfactory. there is no doubt that what we require is a simple, that is to say, a standardised, form of access to the national systems within the eu from other countries. the european central banks, and the banking industry, have shown that it is possible to build bridges in the first instance to link national systems to each other. bridging standards reduce the national conversion cost to the cost of using this standard instead of a large number of national ones. i am thinking here of the interlinking system in target and, with respect to retail payments, of, for example, tipanet of the cooperative bank sector or s - interpay of the savings bank sector. further progress could then be achieved, for example, by stepping up the consistent use of international standards and the ecbs norms, which are not dependent on specific formats, for the national side of settling cross - border payments, that is to say, by using them in the country in which the principal is domiciled and in the country of the ultimate beneficiary. in my opinion, there is an urgent need for action in the field of retail payments. i very much prefer a market - oriented approach. as far as possible, the banking industry and the central banks should reach voluntary agreements on efficient cross - border payments. these agreements can be