and rules should be open and non - proprietary so as to prevent closed markets. but it is also clear that the scope for cooperation needs to be delineated carefully from that for competition. the optimum balance between the cooperative and the competitive space is as hard to find as that between efficiency and consumer convenience, on the one hand, and security and reliability, on the other. it is of paramount interest of the public authorities that the right balance is struck between these poles. generally, it is more efficient to foster competition on the basis of common standards than to foster competition for standards. however, it has to be ensured that these common standards do not end up as being the lowest common denominator. therefore, public authorities regard it as their responsibility to look carefully into this balance between competition and cooperation, and interfere whenever required. that having been said, i would like to reiterate the eurosystem ’ s support for the creation both of bis central bankers ’ speeches rulebooks and frameworks for retail payments in general and of a framework for, and measures to ensure the interoperability of, existing online e - payment schemes in particular, provided these are based on transparent and open standards that allow other communities / schemes to join if they wish to do so. fostering european direction at the global level in my final point, i will take a further step back from the level of detail of the discussion of sepa. in the day - to - day business, we tend to focus, to a large extent, on the difficulties we are facing along the road towards making sepa reality. when reading the documentation on sepa, i have often found the phrase “ yes … but ” : yes, the indicator for migration to the sepa credit transfer is growing, but not fast enough ; yes, the sepa direct debit is available, but it is hardly used ; yes, the proposed regulation will fix a migration end - date, but it is too early ; and so on. of course, we have to deal with problems and obstacles, but for a few minutes at least, let us focus, for a change, on what has been achieved. sepa is an unprecedented initiative to harmonise cashless retail payments across countries, with the added difficulty of replacing existing and widely accepted national payment instruments. sepa is not limited by the borders of either the euro area or the eu. iceland, norway, liechtenstein, switzerland and monaco are part of sepa, enabling cashless euro

peter praet : a new voice on a familiar topic – sepa from his perspective speech by mr peter praet, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the off - site meeting of the european payments council, brussels, 31 august 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for inviting me to speak at your off - site meeting today. from 2004 to 2010, with only one exception, ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell presented the ecb ’ s views and expectations regarding the single euro payments area ( sepa ) to the epc coordination committee. today, i have the honour of taking over. i am committed to continuing the fruitful dialogue that has been established between the ecb and the epc over the years in the same spirit of openness and trust. let me first discuss the sepa project as it stands now in comparison with the situation in mid - 2010. then, i will make some remarks on cash. subsequently, i will focus on three issues that are important for the retail payments market in general in coming years : 1. innovation ; 2. competition ; and 3. globalisation. in this context, it is essential that we keep up a continuous dialogue with all stakeholders, including that with the epc, a very prominent actor. 2010 – 11 review : end - date for migration to sepa, competitive european cards market, security of retail payments where do we stand? in 2010, the sepa project was largely dominated by the intense debate on the proposal to set an end - date for the migration to sepa by regulation. a great deal of time and many resources of both public authorities and the financial sector have gone into shaping the proposal by the european commission. this has not been an easy process, and there has been some controversy between the european commission and the financial industry with regard to the contents and coverage of the regulation, particularly the technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits and the direct debit interchange. the eurosystem expects the sepa credit transfer and the sepa direct debit, which can comply with the technical requirements, to become the credit transfer and direct debit schemes used for euro payments in the eu. where direct debit interchange is concerned, the draft regulation now provides legal certainty. despite the controversy, we all share the conviction that determining a clear deadline for migration to the sepa credit transfer ( sct ) and the sepa direct debit ( sd