Although the pace at which co-legislators, and Member States in particular, have progressed on individual Commission initiatives has often been sluggish, the recent establishment of a high-level expert group might help overcome the remaining impediments and reinforce efforts to make European capital markets deeper and more liquid.1 Step by step, we are improving our financial structures to support a single market of half a billion consumers, underpin the stability of our single currency and channel savings towards financing sustainable growth.
One area that has received less attention from policymakers in recent years, however, is the European retail payments market, in particular point-of-sale and online payments. It is true that a lot has been achieved at the back-end of European retail payments systems, most notably under the umbrella of the Single Euro Payments Area, or SEPA.