The SPACE study (Study on the Payment Attitudes of Consumers in the Euro area) published by the ECB measures the rapid evolution of consumers' payment habits in the Euro area (decrease in cash, increase in cards...) and the very strong disparity of uses between countries. This study is based on payments made during one day by 42,000 people in the Euro zone countries. This represents 68,000 in-store or P2P payments, 7,000 online payments and 44,000 bill payments.

It is a very good introduction to the challenges of the European Commission's Digital Finance Strategy for Europe which aims to :

• Remove fragmentation and achieve a true single digital financial services space;
• Adapting the regulatory framework to technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchains;
• Developing the use of data in financial services while respecting privacy and data protection;
• Enable fair competition between traditional banks and technology companies.

The European Retail Payment Strategy is based on four pillars: (1) digital, instant and pan-European payment solutions, (2) innovative and competitive retail payment markets, (3) efficient and interoperable retail payment systems and (4) efficient international payments. The implementation of this strategy requires regulatory adaptations (Settlement finality Directive, eIDAS Regulation, revision of PSD2, etc.) by 2024 and beyond.

A draft Regulation on Digital Operational Resilience should apply in 2022. It aims to (1) harmonise security incident reporting within the EU, (2) set attack and penetration testing requirements, (3) regulate relations with subcontractors providing information technology services and (4) provide the European authorities (EBA, ESMA) with powers of supervision, investigation and sanction.

A draft Regulation on Crypto-Assets [5], which is envisaged to be implemented in 2022, breaks down crypto-assets into four categories (including e-money tokens and stable value tokens) and defines the thresholds above which they are assets of significant importance. This regulation defines the licensing requirements for managers of these crypto-assets. For electronic money tokens, these provisions are in addition to those applicable to Electronic Money Institutions.

Finally, it should be noted that in France, a member of parliament has tabled a bill aimed at making access to contactless payment equipment "open" as soon as the solution concerns over 2 million consumers in Europe. He would like this to be included in a European regulation.

For more information and the complete watch: contacteznous@oaklen.eu

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