To do that, it has involved not only the stakeholders in the euro area, but also those in other countries of the European Union, Poland obviously included, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Communities outside the euro area will thus have the opportunity to participate in euro payment systems, and will be able to adopt SEPA standards and practices, thereby contributing to the establishment of a single market for payment services. The EPC plans first SEPA products to come on the market at the beginning of the next year. Therefore, today’s Bank Forum is an excellent opportunity for an in-depth discussion on the role and place of the Polish payment infrastructure in the SEPA world. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to present you the discussants of our panel, in alphabetical order: Mr. Ryszard Drużyński, Vice President of Raiffeisen Bank Polska, Mr. Krzysztof Kalicki, President of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank Polska, Mr. Ronnie Richardson, President of the Management Board of Kredyt Bank, Mr. Witold Zieliński, Vice President of the Management Board of Citibank Handlowy. I would like this discussion to be broad and dynamic, that's why feel free to join it. First, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that changes ahead of us are needed to move towards a more integrated payments market, which will bring substantial economic benefits. The SEPA will not only introduce more comparable services, but will also foster competition and drive innovation.
Institutions that are able to embrace new technological developments and offer customers additional services will benefit from this new integrated market. In a competitive and integrated economy, a forward-looking view is required so that retail payments have a level of safety and efficiency that is comparable with the best national systems in place today. Undoubtedly, this approach will considerably influence the balance of power on the European market of payment services, as well as on our local market. The proposed mechanisms will favour consolidation processes in the sector of payment infrastructure providers, and possibly also in the banking sector itself. SEPA stands for (S)Speed, (E)Efficiency, (P)Positiveness and (A)Automatisation. It is important that the SEPA project is not viewed just as a “one-shot operation”, but rather as a continually evolving project that fosters European integration, seeking to improve all aspects of the euro area retail payments market on an ongoing basis. The SEPA will also make a notable contribution to the socalled Lisbon Agenda, which aims at fostering competitiveness and ensuring the continuous development of the European economy. The National Bank of Poland, as a forward-looking and acting institution, which supports development of the Polish banking sector, has been participating, for two years now, in the TARGET system, and is now proceeding with intensive preparation for the transition  BIS Review 29/2007  1  to the new platform – TARGET2.