The Italian Payments Committee (CPI) is chaired by the Bank of Italy and is a cooperation forum whose objective is to foster the development of a secure, innovative and competitive market in Italy for private and public payments that is able to respond to global challenges and to meet the needs of users (firms, households and local governments).
During the 17th plenary meeting of the Italian Payments Committee, held on 10 June, a 'White Paper on retail payments in Europe for the near future' was presented. This document (drawn up on the initiative of the Italian Banking Association, Bancomat SpA and PostePay SpA) aims to stimulate the discussion on finding a possible pan-European payment solution that, in line with the retail payment strategies of the European Central Bank and of the European Commission, is secure, efficient and innovative and is able to support the strategic independence of the European Union in the retail payments market.
The proposal was prompted by a market context increasingly influenced by the development of new technology and by people's preference for digital payment services. The document outlines a possible 'mobile' payment solution, based on an interoperability model between domestic schemes and the use of the SCTInst credit transfer that responds to: economic sustainability aspects; the need to safeguard the investments made by domestic schemes as well as the ability of the latter to respond promptly to market needs; and the need to present a pan-European solution to the market quickly.
Over the coming months, further investigations will be carried out, aimed at: a) identifying specific use cases that can leverage existing schemes, standards and technological infrastructures; b) designing an implementation roadmap and identifying a governance for the initiative that can involve all potential stakeholders; and c) drawing up technical standards that ensure the interoperability of existing solutions.
There has been considerable interest in the document and the proposal for further analysis on the part of the participants in the Italian Payment Committee.
