Digital finance and payments

On 24 March 2022, Commissioner McGuinness gave a speech at the 'Conférence Europe des Services Bancaires et Financiers'. She began by saying that the past few weeks, with the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions against Russia and Belarus, have been a wake-up call about the strategic importance of payments, particularly in times of crisis. Ms McGuinness stressed the importance of accelerating work on instant payments, and confirmed that the Commission will present a legislative proposal on instant payments in the second half of 2022. She went on to say that, while PSD2 has in many ways become a worldwide reference point, the last few years have seen big changes in the payment market and the Commission will need to adapt and think ahead. Ms McGuinness also touched on the issue of the digital euro, and said that the ECB and the Commission are looking at a broad range of questions: how to maintain privacy of users; how the digital euro fits with private payment options; how a digital euro might be impacted in the event of power and/or internet disruptions.

You can read the full speech here