but to unlock its true value for businesses and consumers, we as regulators have a role to play. in this context, clear example is the payment services directive 2 ( psd2 ) that opened up eu payments market to higher competition, by establishing a level playing field for traditional players and new entrants, while providing higher protection for consumers. the new concept of open banking was conducive to richer payment landscape with numerous new entrants ( third party providers ) and numerous new customer - centric services. thus, payments enabled by new providers have just started to take off, but it looks promising to become a new normal as they are expected to improve the user experience. how fast this segment of the financial system in the eu is developing can be witnessed by the approximately 300 new providers operating by midseptember this year, which is just two years since the application of the new regulation - relevant regulatory technical standards under the psd2 ( open banking report, 20212 ). most of the companies that offer these innovative services are fintechs, but open banking also 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches offers a possibility for traditional banks. in fact the survey conducted by accenture3 finds that three quarters ( 75 % ) of the banks see payments modernization as being driven by changes in the national payments infrastructure and regulation, which include improving bank - to - bank payments systems, new industry standards and open banking. the rapid move to digital payments has put additional pressure on banks, with three - quarters ( 75 % ) of bank executives saying that the pandemic has increased the urgency of their plans to modernize payment systems. pressures are felt by the central banks as well. in response to changes in consumer payments preferences, the need to further increase efficiency of payments, as well as the disruption caused by covid - 19, the interest in central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) has also increased. in fact, last year was the launch of the first “ live ” digital currency in the bahamas. a recent bis survey4 of central banks found that 86 % were actively researching the potential for cbdcs, 60 % were experimenting with the technology and 14 % were already deploying pilot projects. the central bank digital money, intended to be digital equivalent to cash, could further increase consumer choice, competition and accessibility with regard to digital payments, thus supporting financial inclusion and making cross - border payments faster and cheaper. in addition, some central banks see the preservation of monetary sovereignty in

- wide impact : money market rates decrease and rate dispersion increases at quarter - ends. [ 27 ] focusing on the regulatory environment in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the conference paper by correa, du and liao ( 2020 ) investigates how u. s. global systemically important banks supply dollar liquidity in repo and foreign exchange swap markets. in reaction to the covid - 19 pandemic, the ecb provided temporary regulatory relief to banks. the most relevant measures for money market functioning included the relaxation of the lcr requirement and the temporary exclusion of central bank reserve holdings from the leverage ratio. the relaxation of the lcr requirement enables banks to use their liquidity buffers under stress, even if this implies that their lcr falls below the required minimum level of 100 %. this measure thus allows for more flexibility in banks ’ liquidity management. the temporary exclusion of central bank reserve holdings from the leverage ratio alleviates bank balance sheet constraints and contributes to reducing the quarter - end effects in money markets. it also ensures that bank participation in monetary policy operations is not unduly affected by the regulatory requirements. the introduction of these temporary regulatory relief measures is expected to support the functioning of money markets beyond the year - end. this also has positive ramifications for the smooth transmission of the eurosystem ’ s monetary policy decisions to the real economy. conclusion i would now like to conclude my remarks. i have shown that, since the global financial crisis, money markets have experienced important structural shifts. these changes likely supported the functioning of money markets during the covid - 19 pandemic. money market activity remained comparatively resilient. most importantly, the decisive policy response by the eurosystem prevented localised tensions from turning into a broader liquidity crisis, thereby ensuring the smooth transmission of our monetary policy. looking ahead, three developments deserve careful monitoring. first, the availability of collateral in secured markets will remain decisive for market functioning, particularly against the backdrop of ongoing central bank asset purchases, even if collateral scarcity is mitigated by the broad fiscal policy response to the covid - 19 pandemic. second, a high level of excess liquidity may further reduce cash - driven activity in some market segments, potentially raising challenges for setting money market benchmark rates. and third, non - bank financial institutions play an increasingly important role in money markets. their market activity has a bearing on the formation of some money market rates, including the €st