The Payments Landscape

In no other place in the world is the payment landscape changing as fast and as radically as in Europe. Indeed, not very long ago, all European countries had their own currency. But for many of them, this changed when euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002.

Today, more than 317 million Europeans are using the Euro. However, the introduction of this high-profile currency certainly does not mark the end of change to the European payments landscape.

As of 2008, people within the euro area, use not only the same notes and coins, they are able to transfer money and make direct debits within this area as quickly and easily as they do within their own country today. The catalyst for this is the introduction of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on 28 January 2008.

A lot of work is also being done behind the scenes to create a single European payments infrastructure. At present, every country uses its own payments infrastructure, but with TARGET2,  the local RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) systems are replaced by an integrated European one.

The changes to the payments landscape are not just limited to Europe. The global scene is in a state of flux, as well. Globalisation, off-shoring and emerging economic powers like the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are generating ever greater volumes of global money transfers which calls for faster, safer and cheaper payments methods.

However, like many other sectors, the payments market is not immune to global problems such as terrorism. Hence, all banks are obliged to prevent terrorist organisations and criminals from using their systems to transfer money around the globe.