De Nederlandsche Bank published opening remarks by Director for Monetary Affairs Bas ter Weel at its annual retail payments symposium, outlining how continued innovation in retail payments should be matched by safeguards for resilience, accessibility and other public interests. He presented the digital euro as a digital form of public money that would complement, not replace, private payment solutions and help preserve trust in money and payments as the system becomes more digital. Ter Weel said innovation has made payments faster and easier but also raises practical issues for people who struggle with digitalisation, for resilience in the face of outages or cyber threats, and for user choice if people and firms become dependent on a single solution. He argued that as cash plays a smaller role in daily use and digital payments dominate, the balance between public and private money needs to be maintained because convertibility into central bank money underpins confidence that EUR 1 remains EUR 1. The remarks also pointed to wider shifts in the payments landscape, including European initiatives such as WERO, the need for new solutions after recent ATM explosions, and the importance of coordination across banks, payment firms, retailers, policymakers and consumer groups.
De Nederlandsche Bank2026-06-01
De Nederlandsche Bank sets out payments priorities on resilience accessibility and digital euro at annual symposium
De Nederlandsche Bank published opening remarks by Director for Monetary Affairs Bas ter Weel stressing that innovation in retail payments must be matched by safeguards for resilience, accessibility and other public interests. He presented the digital euro as a complementary form of public money to preserve trust as cash use declines and digital payments expand, and highlighted the need for coordination among banks, payment firms, retailers, policymakers and consumer groups amid broader shifts such as European initiatives like WERO and evolving cash infrastructure.