The ERPB was instrumental in the development of the SEPA instant credit transfer scheme, which is now live, with over 1,000 providers participating. Those instant payments have been achieved without legislation, with the ECB instead facilitating dialogue and consensus between market actors. Moreover, that scheme will soon be complemented by the ECB’s new Target Instant Payment Settlement service, which is set to go live this November, providing a real-time, high-end platform for payment service innovation. The challenge for Europe Progress towards an integrated market for payments has not been without its problems. Europe still does not have an integrated, standardised card payment network, with the vision of being able to use any card at any payment terminal in Europe having yet to be realised. Europe’s largest card payment networks are still not interoperable. For example, Germany’s Girocard and France’s Cartes Bancaires account for a substantial number of card payments in the euro area’s two largest economies. However, owing to significant technical differences, a supposed lack of a business case and an absence of political will, these two networks remain separate – as do most other national card schemes. As a consequence, it is more convenient to use non-European cards when travelling across Europe. Although some standardisation work has been carried out via the European Cards Stakeholders Group, Europe still does not have its own Europe-wide card scheme, so we remain fully reliant on non-European schemes when making cross-border card payments. Although they provide a valued service, those schemes raise certain questions from a governance perspective.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Globalisation of Islamic finance services – opportunities and challenges Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Fifth IFSB Summit: Session 1: Globalisation of Islamic Finance Services – Opportunities and Challenges, Amman, Jordan, 13 May 2008. *  *  *  This decade has seen the financial globalisation of Islamic finance gain significant momentum. While the early development of Islamic finance was domestic centric, its internationalisation is now manifested by increased cross border flows, greater participation in international Islamic financial markets, the increased presence of Islamic financial institutions in new jurisdictions and more recently, the increased number of Islamic financial institutions which have shareholders from multiple jurisdictions. This trend has strengthened the international economic and financial interlinkages between nations bringing with it mutually reinforcing gains. Financial globalisation has essentially been facilitated by the more rapid pace of liberalisation, the advancement in the information and communications technology, and the significant progress achieved in the development of the international financial infrastructure. This trend has also been reinforced by the search for higher returns and the need to diversify risks. In the current international financial environment of increased uncertainties, this trend has become even more pronounced prompting investors to venture into new asset classes and markets that provide stability. The globalisation of Islamic financial services With the increased significance of the international dimension of Islamic finance, the financial landscape has been dramatically transformed with more diverse players and a more competitive environment.