The official site of Italy's central bank

Payment system

Article 105.2 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community and Article 3 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) include among the ESCB’s institutional functions the promotion of the smooth operation of payment systems; it follows that this objective is pursued jointly by the European Central Bank and national central banks.

For Italy the fundamental source of law is Article 146 of Legislative Decree 185 of 1 September 1993, the Consolidated Law on Banking, which formally recognizes the Bank of Italy’s powers within the payment system. Together with regulatory and oversight powers and the catalyst role vis-à-vis the market, the direct provision of payment services is one of the tools available to central banks to promote the smooth operation of payment systems.

In its role as payment system operator, the Bank of Italy develops - in close cooperation with the banking community - and manages efficient and reliable payment systems. This action at national level comes in a European context of strong interest in implementing common procedures and harmonising the legal framework for the euro area. The Eurosystem has mandated the Bank of Italy, together with the central banks of France and Germany, to set up and operate a shared platform for the new European payment system TARGET2. The Eurosystem is weighing the advisability of implementing a single European facility for securities settlement in central bank money (the TARGET2-Securities project), while exploiting any possible synergies with TARGET2. To this end, the Bank of Italy has stated that it is prepared, together with the central banks of France, Germany and Spain, to offer the service.

The Bank is participating in and supporting the project for the creation of a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) by 2010, i.e. a fully integrated and competitive market with no differences in the handling of national and cross-border payments. It contributes its own analyses and proposals in the framework of the relevant European cooperative fora.

This section presents the legal framework and the functional and technical features of the payment services provided directly by the Bank of Italy.