The European Central Bank (ECB) carried out a study of the social and private costs of different payment instruments with the participation of 13 national central banks in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It shows that the costs to society of providing retail payment services are...

Retail payment markets have been developing rapidly throughout the last decade. In Europe a number of legal and regulatory measures have been adopted with the aim of achieving an integrated single market for payments. In other regions (e.g. Australia, Canada and the United States) retail...

Over the last decade, information technology has contributed significantly to the evolution of financial markets, without, however, revolutionising the way in which financial institutions interact with one another. This may be about to change, as some market players are now predicting that new...