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Payment systems

Article 105.2 of the EC Treaty and Articles 3 and 22 of the Statute of the ESCB/ECB state that one of the basic tasks of the ESCB is to promote the smooth operation of payment systems, an objective which is jointly pursued by the ECB and the NCBs.

In the Italian context, Article 146 of Legislative Decree 385/1993 – the Consolidated Banking Law – is the primary point of reference. It formally recognizes the competence of the Bank of Italy in the field of payment systems.

The Eurosystem promotes the efficiency, stability and security of payment systems through various measures, which include providing payment services, acting as a catalyst for cooperation between payment system operators and carrying out standard-setting, regulatory and oversight activities in the context of its supervisory function.

In the Eurosystem, the development of common procedures has been strongly encouraged in all three areas which make up a modern payment system.

In the area of large-value payments, the new TARGET2 system will start operations on 19 November 2007.

In the field of retail payments, work on creating the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is at an advanced stage.

In the context of securities transactions, a project has been launched to develop a single European infrastructure to provide settlement services in central bank money (the TARGET2-Securities project).

Finally, in March 2007 the Governing Council of the ECB decided to develop a single European platform to manage the collateral put forward by intermediaries in Eurosystem credit operations (the Correspondent Central Banking Model 2, or CCBM2, project).