General guidance for payment system development

The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) is today publishing the consultative report General guidance for payment system development.

The report aims to give assistance in and advice on the planning and implementation of reforms in the payment system as a whole. It underlines that the central bank is always a driving force in the development of the national payment system.

Reforms in this field, however, depend on a parallel development of the banking system, and should therefore be a cooperative effort, involving stakeholders from, for example, the banking sector and regulatory agencies. An adequate understanding of the different infrastructures and their institutional framework is needed and is indispensable for getting the priorities right.

This consultative report includes 14 guidelines and accompanying explanatory text on payment system development. It also includes sections on implementation, which illustrate the guidelines with practical examples, issues and possible approaches to implementation.

The report was produced for the CPSS by a working group chaired by Sean O'Connor of the Bank of Canada. The CPSS serves as a forum for central banks to monitor and analyse developments in payment and settlement arrangements and to consider related policy issues. The chairman of the CPSS is Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. The CPSS secretariat is hosted by the BIS.

Comments on the report are welcome by 30 September 2005 and should be sent by e-mail to cpss@bis.org or by post to the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, Bank for International Settlements, Centralbahnplatz 2, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland.