The European Central Bank has called for an overhaul of governance and management of the European Payments Council in its latest report on impediments to the creation of a Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).In it's sixth Sepa progress report, the ECB welcomes the effort made so far, but stresses that work "urgently remains to be done" to ensure the success of the Europe-wide project.
The report contains a list of 'ten milestones for Sepa implementation and migration', including calls for the development of a new bank-backed European card scheme to challenge the dominance of MasterCard's Maestro system, and clarification of the rules governing the launch of the new Sepa Direct Debit payments instruments that are slated for introduction in November next year.
The Central bank says the banking sector and relevant competition authorities "urgently" need to resolve outstanding issues regarding the possible interbank pricing models for direct debits.
It also calls on the industry to stimulate migration to the new Sepa payment instruments by setting a "realistic, but ambitious" end-date for national credit transfers and direct debits.
The ECB has also suggested changes to the mandate and organisation of the EPC, the bank-backed Sepa standards body.
"One short-term step would be to strengthen the EPC's Secretariat so that it can adequately support the EPC in its many tasks," says the ECB. "In the medium to longer term, more substantial changes are needed to improve the EPC's effectiveness, transparency and accountability."
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