New Payment Statistics Regulation
On the 24th of December 2013, the European Central Bank adopted the "Regulation of the European Central Bank of 28 November 2013 on payment statistics (ECB/2013/43)" and it came into force on the 27th of January, 2014.
This regulation defines the statistical standards according to which payment statistics are collected and compiled for the euro area as a whole, and individually for each euro area and non-euro area Member States.
After the adoption of the Regulation, additional reporting requirements were formulated and on the 4th of April, 2014, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank adopted the "Guideline on monetary and financial statistics (ECB/2014/15)". The Guideline complements the Regulation by providing flexibility for the collection of data not covered by the Regulation. It also sets our the modalities and technical procedures relating to the transmission of data from the National Central Banks to the European Central Bank.
The scope of this new Regulation is to give information about the level and development of the use of payment means at both euro area and at national level and, to produce harmonised payments statistics.
The main uses of the payment statistics are:
1. To give an overview of the world of payment instruments and services in Europe, in terms of numbers, values and instruments used.
2. To identify trends that will support policy making decisions.
3. Are an essential input to well-informed decision making from an ECB policy point of view in order to act as a catalyst for future development in the payments sphere of Europe.
The Regulation and the Guideline are replacing the previous Guideline regarding the collection of statistics (previously known as the Blue Book Statistics). According to this Regulation there are new dimensions and requirements.
The frequency of the collection of statistics remains Annual, as in the past.
The Central Bank of Cyprus created the templates to be used for the submission of the Payment Statistics data for the year 2015 "PS 2016 Template for Banks" and the "PS 2016 Template for JCC Payment Systems Ltd" consolidating the requirements of the Regulation and the Guideline.
The exchange rates to be used are included in the following file "Exchange Rates 2016".