in january setting out what is agreed and what remains to be decided. in principle, the creation of the ecb in 1998 ( in advance of stage iii ) or thereafter need not affect the other activities of eu central banks, whether they are in or out of the euro - area, provided they do not conflict with the ecb ’ s achievement of monetary stability. but it seems very likely that some of the activities of the national central banks, and especially those who are members of the euro - area, will change character as emu develops ( if it does ). that is partly because questions will undoubtedly be asked about costs. one american commentator has recently pointed out that the total cost of the us federal reserve system today is well under a third of the total costs of eu central banks. on that issue, as i have demonstrated, i believe we at the bank of england have a good story to tell. but the introduction of the euro would also have major implications for payments systems and financial markets generally, which are bound to push national central banks closer together. at the same time, functions further from the core of central banking, and especially those which could be performed as well or better by the private sector, are likely to move out of the central banks. as for monetary policy, if you will permit me one last quotation, one which should appeal to this audience, alex cukierman said in his extensive study of central banking, “ a governor who is backed by an absolutely and relatively strong research department carries - 11 - more weight vis - a - vis the treasury and other branches of government ”. 4 the same will be true within the european system of central banks, so i envisage national central banks keeping their capacity to analyse the state of their domestic economy. however, it ought to be possible, over time, for the ins to capture some economies of scale, and to develop centres of excellence in central banks around the union, with expertise in particular areas of work. it is unlikely to make sense to have 15 ( and certainly not 25 ) teams of economists analysing the causes of changes in the velocity of eurom4. but i do not wish to give the impression that emu, even if it comes about on something roughly approaching the current timetable, will be the ‘ end of history ’ as far as european central banking is concerned. i suspect that central banks in europe will continue to display great diversity, and will continue to evolve in different directions, and at

of us : for users, the system and the bank itself. the report highlighted that a new economy and new demographics demand a new financial system. this system must be resilient, fair and dynamic. we have prioritised five areas of work : we are enhancing the payments system for the digital age ; we will champion a platform to boost access to finance for small businesses ; we will support the transition to a carbon - neutral economy ; we will develop a world - class regtech and data strategy ; and we will facilitate firms ’ use of technology. https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2019 / victoria - cleland - national - inclusion - week - launch - event - at - house - of - lords https : / / files. londonandpartners. com / business / resources / london - fintech - scene - 2017. pdf https : / / www. innovatefinance. com / news / uk - fintech - investment - flying - high - in - h1 - 2019 / https : / / www. ukfinance. org. uk / system / files / summary - uk - payment - markets - 2018. pdf https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / report / 2019 / future - of - finance all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches today, i will focus on how the bank will support a more resilient, innovative and competitive payments system for uk households and businesses : we have a vision that payments will become cheaper, instantaneous and more seamless, including across borders. at the heart of this is the uk ’ s real - time gross settlement ( rtgs ) service which settles around £650bn of payments each working day, close to a third of the uk ’ s annual gdp. not much business can be done without it, and most consumers are ultimately reliant on it. i will tell you shortly about our leading - edge work to renew this service, but this is not all we are doing. we are also pursuing a number of even more far - reaching strands which together have the potential to transform the current payments landscape. i want to share a few of these with you today. first, cross border payment is for many a long standing frustration - often badged as slow ; inefficient and expensive for both financial institutions and end users. in 2018 we