The Eurosystem is directly involved in the area of securities and settlement systems, because of the repercussions these may have on the conduct of the common monetary policy. The Eurosystem is also active in ensuring that retail payments systems are harmonised across Europe.
At the moment, cross-border retail payments cost more and take longer than payments effected within countries; this is incompatible with a well-functioning monetary union. All these aspects represent important challenges for the Eurosystem and the financial sector at large.