Major developments have underscored the implications for payment systems and financial stability as they have exposed central banks to additional sources of risks. For instance, the issuance of new financial instruments, the increasing size and complexity of financial systems, and globalization of financial markets have contributed to generate new areas of risks.
Financial innovations, due to technological advances in information and communications, have impacted strongly on the speed, variety and costs of transactions. These have increased the size of the financial sector vis-à-vis the real economy and the number and volume of transfers that take place through the payment system have magnified significantly.