EU rules on the functioning of a Single European Payment Area (SEPA) Union-wide with free movement of cross-border services have an impact upon fair competition in the internal market for both consumers and smaller businesses. Under Article 102 (a) TFEU, the cost analysis of pricing must be...

​In this article we first document the evidence showing how an efficient retail payment infrastructure enhances economic performance. We then review the policy tools available to promote efficient retail payments in Europe. We argue that while SEPA is an important policy initiative that...

Payment scale economies affect banking costs, competition in payment services, and pricing. Our scale measure relates operating cost to physical measures of European banking "output", finding large economies. This differs from relating total cost to the value of balance sheet assets (the...