ECB's Cipollone says digital euro will protect European banks, card schemes

By Valentina Za

MILAN, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The integer euro volition beryllium designed to guarantee it protects European paper schemes and support banks astatine the halfway of the euro portion payments system, a ‌senior European Central Bank policymaker said connected Wednesday.

As a currency managed straight by the ECB done ‌accounts users volition unfastened with the cardinal bank, the integer euro task has sparked fears among banks they volition suffer their relation successful ​handling payments.

Digitalisation of payments has reduced the relation of cash, the lone signifier of cardinal slope wealth presently existing, prompting the ECB to opt to contented a cardinal slope integer currency to vie with backstage forms of money.

ECB Executive Board Member Piero Cipollone said that changes successful the payments manufacture meant that banks ran that hazard careless of the integer ‌euro, which would really assistance them.

Speaking ⁠to the steering committee of Italy's banking relation ABI, Cipollone said the integer euro meant to "preserve the cardinal presumption of banks successful payments".

"Banks could suffer their relation successful payments not ⁠just due to the fact that of stablecoins but besides owed to different backstage solutions," helium said.

Banks would not conscionable suffer revenues but, much importantly, entree to the payments information of their customers, accusation which they request to connection them different much profitable services.

HIGHER FEES?

The ​ECB ​also wants to support European payments schemes, specified arsenic Italy's ​Bancomat paper scheme, oregon Spain's Bizum peer-to-peer scheme, ‌Cipollone said.

To boost their role, the integer euro strategy volition beryllium structured successful a mode that it volition inactive beryllium cheaper for shopowners to usage those networks, helium added.

"The headdress connected the interest that merchants volition wage connected the integer euro web volition beryllium little than what the planetary payments network, usually the costlier, charge, but higher than what home payments scheme, usually the cheapest, charge," Cipollone said.

Only 8 of the 21 euro portion members person ‌a nationalist payments scheme, with the others relying wholly connected planetary ​networks.

"The integer euro volition efficaciously favour home payments schemes," helium added.

Fraying ​transatlantic ties person prompted the ECB to marque ​as a strategical hazard the information that much than 3 quarters of transactions successful Europe ‌take spot done planetary payments schemes specified arsenic ​Visa oregon Mastercard.

After stalling for ​two years the ECB's instrumentality connection which it needs to walk to let the cardinal slope to contented the integer currency, the European parliament this period gave its archetypal large backing to the integer ​euro.