The availability of substantial, detailed statistics on the payment system and market infrastructures is an important means of permitting accountability of the central bank in the exercise of its institutional functions, fostering innovation in the payment and post-trading industry and stimulating research at universities and at the central banks.
Accordingly, the Bank of Italy publishes the Supplement to the Statistical Bulletin on the Payment System, an important source of data on the state and evolution of the payment system and securities settlement sector in Italy. The Supplement contains data pertaining to three broad areas:
- payment system access points and the use of retail payment instruments by firms and households
- interbank payment systems operated by the Bank of Italy (TARGET2-BI and BI-COMP)
- clearing and settlement of securities transactions.
The statistics published in the Supplement derive from a multiplicity of sources, including:
- supervisory reports
- the databases on the settlement circuits operated by the Bank of Italy
- the Interbank Register of Bad Cheques and Payment Cards
- ad hoc flows supplied by external entities.
Alongside the production of the Supplement, contributions on payment systems, securities settlement systems, central depositories and central counterparties are made annually to the European Central Bank and the Bank for International Settlements for subsequent publication in the former’s Statistical Data Warehouse and the latter’s volume on Statistics on payment, clearing and settlement systems in the CPMI countries.
Payment System