Payment systems in eleven developed countries - April 1989

CPMI Papers  | 
01 April 1989

This manual is the third edition of what has come to be known as the "Red Book" on payment systems. The previous editions have been translated in whole or in part into French, German and Japanese, which can be taken as a fair indication of the extent of interest in the subject matter. The Group of Experts on Payment Systems of the central banks of the Group of Ten countries first attempted to identify the growing areas of mutual interest in developments in the field of payment systems in 1978. These initial efforts not only served to highlight the increasing similarities in the different national environments by showing that payment systems were developing along common lines, but also convinced the central banks of the need to publish their findings. The central banks' principal reason for undertaking studies in this field is, of course, the fact that money, in the broadest sense of the term, is one of their main objects of concern and an area of prime responsibilities.