Digital euro: ESBG’s response to the European Commission targeted consultation

ESBG stated the need to further assess exactly what gaps in the payments system could be filled by the introduction of a digital euro, and to analyse how the existing solutions could be adjusted to enhance their value to the customer. This in its response to the European Commission targeted consultation on June 15. We highlighted the financial education challenges ahead, which will be key to address in order to continue building the customers’ confidence in the financial sector.

The response also stated that ESBG and its members are in favour of limits to individual holdings of digital euro – ideally in the form of €1,500 cap. It elaborated that a higher limit might cause a deposit outflow that would not be manageable for most banking business models in the EU and would likely force banks to de-leverage massively. The negative impact of this on balance sheet would be particularly severe for savings and retail banks that currently have little to no access to market funding. The deposit outflow would not only impact liquidity, but also the volume of credit provision of deposit-intense banks, which in the past kept the lending stable even in crisis times.

For a digital euro to be successful, it must provide a user-friendly onboarding process and it should be secure, easy to access and use, and adapted to the public. It would also require the acceptance of both the consumers and merchants. Finally, However, any measure aimed at introducing mandatory acceptance – and any eventual exemption – should be carefully assessed and designed at EU level to avoid affecting the level playing field between different means of payment and crowd-out the existing solutions.