In the discussion paper published in July, the Task Force for the Payments System Review suggested a structure that included a joint organization and a monitoring and regulatory agency. Various stakeholders provided comments and requested greater clarification about the proposal. But, as far as I know, no one has so far said that it was a bad idea.
I think we're going to have to give some thought one way or another to a system of regulating and monitoring these payments. In Australia, for example, it is very clearly the Reserve Bank of Australia that monitors payments. It's a little more complicated in the United States, but the Federal Reserve plays an extremely important role. Right now, we are looking at a review of the financial sector regulations in the United Kingdom, and they are going to ensure that these questions will be addressed by state regulators.
To go back to the previous question, I should say that the financial sector is special and that, in may cases, to increase competition, the regulation needs to be a little more and a little better. Because the financial sector uses or handles peoples' savings—your savings, the payments you want to make and the payments you want to receive. So, if we want new players on the market, we need to ensure, in the interest of macro-economics and in the interest of the various individual stakeholders, that we have in place rules that have been adapted. Prudential supervision, for example, applies to a bank that has $500 billion in assets, but may not apply to a small provider. But there need to be rules all the same. Right now in Canada there is absolutely nothing.
We need rules and we need someone to put them in place, to encourage more competition. But we need to ensure that everyone knows the rules, both for electronic payments and traditional payments. We are now seeing a situation where an increasing number of merchants are refusing to accept cash. But for the 5% or 10% of Canadians who do not have a credit card or a debit card, refusing money issued by the Bank of Canada poses a problem.