ECB Official Touts Public-Private Cooperation in Payments Digitization

The European Central Bank (ECB) will be eyeing the effects of digitization, including ways to “stay at the technological frontier and satisfy consumers’ demand for immediacy while preserving our sovereignty,” ECB Board Member Fabio Panetta said in a keynote speech during the European Payments Council’s 20th anniversary.

Panetta said his main message that there needs to be more cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Read more: ECB’s Panetta Urges Firms to Adopt EU Instant Payment Solutions

He said the European Union has “multiple initiatives,” including cooperation on retail payments strategy and the digital euro project with the European Commission and various legislators.

Panetta said there will have to be ways for Europeans to pay seamlessly, and payment service providers (PSPs) must have abilities to operate, compete and innovate across the region.

He added that the EU should make sure digital retail payment solutions are available for all European countries, explaining many digital solutions don’t have much coverage and are not based on instant settlements.

Panetta said he thinks the problem is typical for payments, in which both sides of the market do not have incentives to adopt new solutions.

He said a digital euro could be a good opportunity to foster more public-private cooperation, adding large-scale payment infrastructure to the expertise private companies have in distributing payments products and interacting with users.

In other news related to the digital euro, UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said the digital coin could be “fast and cheaper” and could “ensure that there is integrity and with that trust in the system that upholds the euro.”

See more: UBS CEO: Digital Euro Could Be ‘Fast and Cheaper’

Speaking at a student conference on financial education this week, he said it wouldn’t be risky if done well.

He added that UBS is working on ways customers could use digital tools to buy real assets.