secure and, as far as possible, automated solution in the form of a standardised application programming interface ( api ). to ensure the successful implementation of such interfaces and to bring about their paneuropean uptake and reach, the ecb believes that a harmonised and integrated approach is necessary. services based on access to a payment account have huge potential, for example where thirdparty providers offer competitive payment initiation services to merchants or aggregated account information to consumers. demand for such services is growing worldwide, and several legislative and regulatory initiatives have been introduced to encourage competition and innovation in financial services. indeed, psd2 can be seen as a first step along the path towards “ open banking ”. this is an opportunity for eu market stakeholders to shape the work on open banking and to demonstrate that we are able to progress towards that objective – in a coordinated way, for the good of european citizens. banks should not see third - party access to accounts as a threat. instead, they can capitalise on their psd2 investments in apis and offer value - added services, for example by including in the api other accounts beyond the pure payment accounts covered by psd2, by offering additional functionalities for payment initiation services, or even by extending the api to other services such as customer authentication. such value - added services could then be fairly compensated. i believe that such an approach would 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches be mutually beneficial for banks and third - party providers. for this reason, the erpb set up a working group to explore the scope for an api access scheme in the single euro payments area ( sepa ), as well as the legal and governance aspects of such a scheme. the group has now started delivering on its mandate. for the working group to be successful, banks should see the evolution towards open banking as an opportunity to renew their innovation strategy and client focus, in a changing global environment. instant payments are another enabler for innovative payment solutions. in europe, the sepa instant payments scheme and the various processing and settlement arrangements, including the eurosystem ’ s tips service, are all in place. tips was launched last year and allows transactions to be settled in central bank money across europe within seconds. the capacity to transfer funds within a few seconds is a powerful one, and it has great potential beyond traditional credit transfers. however, the market will need to tailor solutions to the specific needs of end users. one highly promising area is the point of

jaime caruana : announcement of basel ii opening remarks of mr jaime caruana, governor of the bank of spain and chairman of the basel committee on banking supervision, at the press conference announcing the publication of basel ii, bank for international settlements, basel, 26 june 2004. * * * i would like to thank president trichet for his kind words, which i will certainly share with my colleagues. on behalf of the basel committee on banking supervision, i am honoured to join him in announcing the publication of the revised framework for bank capital adequacy, a document that we have officially entitled, the “ international convergence of capital measurement and capital standards : a revised framework. ” i will not go into details about the document in my opening remarks, although of course i will be delighted to answer questions afterwards. what i would like to say is that the new framework represents a significant step towards achieving a more comprehensive and risk sensitive supervisory approach. it also represents an unparalleled opportunity for banks to improve their capital strategies and risk management systems. and finally, it provides supervisors with an opportunity to improve their ability to identify banking risks and to enhance the dialogue with the industry and among banking supervisors. this new approach can be expected to play a significant role in reinforcing the soundness of individual banks and thereby enhancing financial stability. our objective is also to ensure a consistent application across jurisdictions. as you know, many individuals inside our member agencies devoted substantial efforts to the basel ii process. we are indebted particularly to the leadership of bill mcdonough, our prior chairman and the former president of the federal reserve bank of new york, who championed this new approach to capital supervision. we appreciate as well the leadership and excellent work of daniele nouy, the former secretary general of the committee ’ s highly professional secretariat, and that of her successor, ryozo himino. given that the capital framework serves as a cornerstone to the safe and sound operation of the banking system, we sought to conduct our discussions in a highly transparent process. we engaged in extensive discussions with many interested parties on the domestic and international levels, and i would like to thank in particular two groups of external organisations and individuals who supported our efforts. first, i should mention the countless representatives of banking organisations, industry associations, and other private sector bodies who devoted time and energy to sharing their views. they offered hundreds of comment letters, as well as data to test the quality of the rules, and they engaged in exhaust