mr hartmann reflects on recent developments in international payment systems speech delivered by mr wendelin hartmann, member of the directorate of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the committee on payment and settlement systems of the g10 central banks, at the conference of the belgian financial forum celebrating 25 years of the belgian automated clearing house - cec ( concluding session ), held at the national bank of belgium, brussels, on 23 november 1999. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the belgium clearing house cec ( centre for exchange and clearing ) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and today ’ s speeches have shown that it can justifiably be called a success story. the early standardisation and centralisation of retail payments in belgium offers many advantages from the point of view of cost and efficiency and might well act as a model for solving the many different problems in cross - border payments in europe. as the representative of a central bank of a country with a much less centralised payment settlement, albeit with a high degree of standardisation, i am, of course, able to envisage other solutions as well. it is probably no exaggeration to say that today ’ s conference has fully met its objective. it has given all those involved in european retail payments - the financial industry as the service provider as well as the users and regulators - the opportunity of presenting their different standpoints, thus offering a platform for a very interesting and constructive exchange of views. considering the current developments in international payments highlighted by preceding speakers i would like to conclude that cross - border retail payments - including those in the euro area, in particular - are still in need of considerable improvement in terms of quality, efficiency and prices. the aim must be a dramatic reduction of the existing marked differences between domestic and cross - border payment services and their complete elimination in the longer term, so that the motto of this conference, “ one eurozone for retail payments ”, can become a reality. eu directive on cross - border payments the fact that the european parliament and council directive on cross - border payments has now been implemented in almost all the eu member states means that a major step towards greater transparency and a better service level has already been taken. however, this measure alone will not be sufficient to meet the requirements of an efficient single market and the expectations of european consumers. given a single currency and the use of electronic transmission media, the general public naturally does not understand why a credit transfer from brussels to frankfurt should be several times

##t treaty. but to be given that support, a central bank needs more than just a good record over the longer term. what is also important is that it can demonstrate a minimum degree of unanimity. that applies anyway in the event of a conflict. in that situation, if the central bank gives disparate signals to the outside world, the general public does not know at all what it is actually supposed to be supporting. admittedly, it is comparatively easy to create unanimity in the event of a conflict. but the central bank ’ s standing with the general public, which is intended to be a protection in the event of a conflict — that is something which it has to have earned and built up beforehand. and it has that standing only if the general public is aware of what the central bank stands for. if the general public asks what the bank ’ s standpoint is, it wants a clear - cut answer and not a response enumerating the various possibilities of position 1, position 2, position 3, and so on. a central bank must be identifiable by its basic stance. that can scarcely be achieved without a minimum of collective awareness. i fully understand the objection that this must not lead to individual responsibility becoming lost in the decision - making bodies. there is something in that. i wish, however, that critics who have never had to withstand a serious attack on the independence of the central bank would have somewhat more respect for the concepts of consensus and unanimity. vi finally, allow me to indulge in a reflection of a fundamental nature. we are certainly all in agreement that the euro has to be a success. and that is a permanent challenge. whether the euro becomes a success story is something on which it is impossible to make a final judgement after less than six months. the euro certainly has a great potential. recent exchange rate movements have not altered that fact. clearly, the decline in the euro ’ s external value over the last few days has not been good news. we shall study developments carefully. yesterday the governing council had a serious discussion on that. we came to the following conclusion which was presented to the press after the meeting by president duisenberg : “ the euro is a currency firmly based on internal price stability and therefore has a clear potential for a stronger external value. since the start of stage three of emu the euro has become the second most important international currency in the world, and the policy of the eurosystem will safeguard its