Cross-border banking impact still unclear - IBF

Irish banks are still a long way off from assessing the potential impact of new rules on cross-border banking that are due to come into effect in 2008, according to the Irish Bankers' Federation (IBF).

IBF spokesman Felix O'Regan said yesterday that the likely effects of the planned cross-border systems on banks and their customers remain unclear.

"It is far too early to be in any way definitive," he said, referring to reports that the European banking industry has agreed a number of new cross-border payment schemes.

He went on, however, to point to previous moves towards financial integration across Europe, noting that these have tended to offer customers "better value for money".

The new schemes - which will facilitate cross-border credit transfers and direct debit payments - have been designed in response to calls from the European Commission for greater integration within the EU's banking market.

Banks are also set to implement a scheme to allow debit cards issued anywhere in the EU to be used in all 25 member states. Under this plan, they could also be used in the European Economic Area countries of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, or in Switzerland.

Irish banks are well-advanced in this regard, with almost 90 per cent of laser cards issued in the Republic on track to be usable abroad at point of sale by the end of this year.

The new rules will eventually extend to making payments over the internet or by mobile phone.

"The biggest difference will be ease of use," said Stewart MacKinnon, chief executive of the Irish Payments Services Organisation (IPSO), which is the body that is co-ordinating Irish preparations for the new systems.

"Say, for example, you had a second house in Malaga and you wanted to pay the electricity bill on direct debit. You could do it through your bank account in Dublin."

IPSO estimates that about 25,000 cross-border transactions pass through Irish banks each day.

Mr MacKinnon expects this number to grow substantially after 2008.

Figures from AIB show that the volume of cross-border business has already grown strongly over the past few years.

It has increased on average by 18 per cent over each of the past three years.

As things stand, more than 70 per cent of monetary transactions in Europe are conducted through cash.

The Consumers' Association of Ireland, yesterday welcomed the latest progress towards paper-less banking.

Chief executive, Dermott Jewell, said it was "long overdue".