Today I will cover three key areas: •  Firstly, how we want to expand access to RTGS to enhance financial stability and promote competition;  1  Bank of England, A blueprint for a new RTGS service for the United Kingdom, https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2017/ablueprint-for-a-new-rtgs-service-for-the-uk  3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  •  Secondly, how we are examining ways of supporting settlement across innovative payment technologies; and  •  Finally how ISO 20022 implementation will support innovation, harmonisation and resilience. Improving access  The Bank wants to see the next generation of RTGS support greater competition and innovation within the payments industry. Expanding access to the service also has the benefit of providing greater financial stability by reducing operational reliance on a small number of banks and lowering the credit exposures between direct and indirect participants. We have therefore changed the access criteria to enable non-bank Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to join. Earlier this year Transferwise was the first non-bank to gain direct access to RTGS, followed soon after by Ipagoo. Going forward we also want to make the onboarding process smoother and more efficient. For instance, we intend to introduce automated testing, which will reduce the burden and manual effort required by both new and existing participants when someone joins RTGS. And we will introduce simulators to help onboarders better familiarise themselves with RTGS and the full functionality it offers before going live. Innovative payment technologies  The UK is a world-leader in financial services technology and innovation.
The Banco de España, in accordance with its competence in the accounting regulation of Spanish credit institutions, decided to undertake a project to extend the use of IAS from consolidated financial statements to the individual, regulatory and prudential ones, thereby avoiding the cost and uncertainty of diverse accounting criteria. This initiative gave rise to the new accounting Circular 4/2004. Through this Circular, the Banco de España acknowledges and shares the benefits derived from the efforts to achieve greater accounting harmonisation, while pursuing, in its supervisory capacity, a legitimate interest in the quality of accounting standards and in their effective implementation. Also, since the process of approval and adoption of the new international standards was marked by its complexity and underwent certain timetable difficulties, the Banco de España’s new Circular was also intended to endow the process, as far as possible, with a greater degree of certainty. The complexity of the new accounting standards arises not only from the process referred to, but also basically from the modifications contained in them, since they involve notable changes in numerous matters that are very important in credit institution management and that impose new responsibilities on managers in the election of accounting policies. Although it is too early to make a detailed assessment of the introduction of the new accounting standards, which have only been in force for a few months, the initial evaluation by the Banco de España is positive, and the major efforts and work by financial institutions in this connection should be acknowledged.