New schemes vital to Sepa for cards success - ECB's Tumpel-Gugerell

MasterCard and Visa need to be challenged by at least one new scheme if Sepa (Single euro payments area) for cards is to succeed, according to ECB executive board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell.

In a speech at the EFMA conference on cards and payments, Tumpel-Gugerell says a single market for cards is the "missing piece in the Sepa puzzle" and warns Europe needs to overcome the "current stagnation".

Citing research from the ECB and De Nederlandsche Bank, she says a new Europe-wide card scheme could provide a "decisive impetus" to solving interoperability and overcoming fragmentation in the market, benefiting customers and merchants.

There are currently three scheme initiatives and Tumpel-Gugerell has called on those involved to "get down to business now"...

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