The central bank also has access to information through its contacts with market participants and has built up expertise on payment and settlement systems in the course of their banking operations. All of these elements provide a strong foundation for effective system-wide analysis. Central banks as a plumber Second, the central bank is a plumber.
Digitalisation is changing consumers’ expectations and people are right to ask themselves why, if they can send an email to the other side of the world in a split second, do they have to wait hours or even days for a bank transfer to go through. It is true that some national solutions have emerged, but they do not have pan-European reach.