Show menu

Jan Vermeulen

  • Dinsdag 10/10/2023

    The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) publishes yearly a Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) and Payment Services Report which provides for the preceding year a detailed overview of changes in the regulatory framework for FMIs, custodians, payment service providers and critical services providers, the evolution of their activities and the Bank's approaches to oversight and prudential supervision.

    A number of significant FMIs (SWIFT, Euroclear, Bank of New York Mellon, Mastercard, Worldline) with international relevance are vested in Belgium and the report establishes transparency by clearly defining, and disclosing the regulatory, supervisory, and oversight policies with respect to these systems and institutions.

    Also trends with regards to national payment systems and services are depicted and the annexes provide statistical time series on the FMI activities and the payments eco system. This year’s publication incorporates a few topics deserving specific attention which are summarized in this article: the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the digital euro project, climate risk and cyber & IT risks.

  • Donderdag 6/2/2020
    Jan Vermeulen - Michiel Van Acoleyen

    The last year may be marked as a tipping point for retail payments in Belgium and in Europe with the implementation of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the wide range of innovative initiatives sparking off in the market. The changes these trends are inducing in business models, in combination with the emergence of instant payments, stablecoin systems and technological innovations, will increasingly shape the sector in the years ahead. Against this background of structural and strategic challenges, both public authorities and market actors need to carefully set out their future course. This article aims to facilitate this reflection by providing an overview of the key trends and innovations currently driving the transformation of the Belgian and European payments landscape.