The European Central Bank sets out its agenda for the implementation of a modern payments systems infrastructure that will help banks meet political demands for a reduction in cross-border credit transfer charges.
The report, entitled "Towards an integrated infrastructure for credit transfers in euro", reviews ways to remove obstacles that are at the origin of the high costs of retail cross-border credit transfers and provides an overview of measures which the Eurosystem considers necessary to improve the payment infrastructures in the euro area.
It covers not only the interbank infrastructures such as funds transfer systems, but also the standards without which infrastructures would not be able to operate. In the view of the Eurosystem, significant improvements in banks' costs can be achieved within a reasonable time frame. This requires that banks take decisions establishing the framework for an efficient infrastructure very soon, i.e. in the course of 2002.
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