AGE contributes to EU work on digital euros and payment fraud

Accessible and safe financial services are key elements for inclusion and participation in our everyday life. As the EU is shaping the future digital euro and stepping up effort to combat payment fraud, we want to make sure the needs of older people will be taken on board.

Ongoing work towards a digital euro

On 18th October the European Central Bank Governing Council decided to endorse the outcomes of the two-year investigation phase on the digital euro project and move to the preparation phase. Part 1 of the preparation phase was launched beginning of November and is expected to last around two years. It is running in parallel to the on-going deliberations on the legislative proposal published by the European Commission last June. The ECB Governing Council will only decide whether to launch a digital euro once the legislation on the digital euro will be adopted by the EU co-legislators. Part 2 of the preparation phase is planned to start in November 2025 and, subject to approval of the Governing Council, will further develop and prepare the roll-out of agreed digital euro use cases.  

AGE involvement

As one of the two consumers representatives in the Euro Retail Payment Board (ERPB) we were actively involved in the investigation phase of the digital euro project, which developed proposals for the design and distribution of a potential digital euro. We welcome the outcomes of the investigation phase which reflect our call for the digital euro to be designed for everyone (fostering digital and financial inclusion), easy-to-use, widely accessible and free-of-charges for basic needs. This high level design will now serve as a basis for the preparation phase which will further develop and test possible digital euro technical solutions.  With the help of our task force on Age-Friendly Environments, we will continue to raise older persons’ expectations and concerns in the ERPB thematic sessions on the digital euro. We will also continue  our participation in the Digital Euro Scheme Rulebook Development Group, the working group launched by the European Central Bank (ECB) in January 2023. The purpose of this working group is to develop the set of rules, practices and “standards” that will allow the distribution of digital euro through intermediaries in line with the design decisions endorsed by the Governing Council of the ECB. 

Payment fraud: need for broad concerted action

Last September, the Euro Retail Payment Board (ERPB) launched a working group on payment fraud, in which AGE is actively participating The group is asked to analyse new trends in fraud related to retail payments and define on this basis a set of possible actions for actors involved in the payment chain. The working group has identified new forms of impersonation scams and investment fraud powered by social engineering enabling criminals to constantly adapt their modus operandi. The scale of fraud cases and loss is expected to grow in the near future unless coordinated actions are taken by a broader range of public and private actors. Reaching out to actors much beyond the payment chain actors will be critical to effectively prevent, detect and investigate rapidly evolving payment fraud.