The combination of common standards, common payment instruments and a harmonised legal framework will benefit small and medium-sized companies in at least four ways: First, it provides legal certainty all over Europe. This means that irrespective of where the company and its customers are located in Europe, there is no additional risk stemming from the existence of different payment rules and customs.
At times, however, financial intermediation can result in risks becoming concentrated in ways that increase rather than reduce the fragility of the financial system more broadly. This is what many people mean when they refer to systemic risk. While today I will use the term in this fashion, I would note that the concept is quite vague.