Our Director General, María Abascal, has explained that banks could facilitate the adoption of the digital euro in Spain by households and businesses through Bizum, the mobile payment solution in which 23 institutions collaborate.
“For the digital euro to succeed, it must be integrated into the customer’s financial activity and add value,” María Abascal stated at the digital euro conference organised yesterday by the Bank of Spain, in view of the preparation phase already launched by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Integrating digital euro payments into the payment systems customers already use—such as banking apps or Bizum—will make usage easier and also support citizens’ learning, as they already know and trust these solutions, she explained.
“In Spain we have a highly successful instant payments solution, with more than 24 million users today. In other words, more than half of the adult population in our country uses Bizum, making Spain the leading performer in this type of transaction in Europe.”
Making use of existing payment infrastructures would also help optimise the efforts required by intermediaries and the ECB for its distribution, María Abascal explained, convinced that this is the most effective way to meet the objectives of the digital euro without incurring the high costs of creating a completely new infrastructure.
Likewise, the possibility that Bizum could coexist and operate with other European solutions may arise in the future, and the digital euro could be the catalyst for this. This would help overcome the fragmentation of the market and user experiences that occurs at European level, despite the existence of strong local payment initiatives, she stressed.
“From the banking sector, we believe it is essential to guarantee the interoperability of the digital euro with existing private solutions to ensure the project’s success and secure its acceptance.”
María Abascal took part in a panel discussion on “the digital euro from the ecosystem perspective” alongside Santiago Carbó, Director of Financial Studies and Executive Director of Funcas’ Financial Digitalisation Observatory; and Patricia Suárez, President of Asufin. Sergio Gorjón, Head of the Bank of Spain’s Financial Innovation Division, moderated the session.
