Keystone
According to a study by the consulting firm PwC, the introduction of the digital euro will result in considerable costs for European banks. The study estimates the change costs for 19 banks examined in detail at over two billion euros.
Extrapolated to the entire eurozone, the total costs could be between 18 and 30 billion euros, depending on the scenario. The PwC study on the costs of a digital euro was commissioned by the three European Credit Sector Associations (ECSAs).
For years, the monetary authorities in the eurozone have been working on a digital version of the European single currency. With a digital euro, the euro central banks want to counter private providers, primarily from the USA, such as PayPal, Mastercard and Visa, which currently dominate the market for digital payments in Europe, with a European digital payment offering.
However, most banks and savings banks in Germany are critical of the introduction of a digital euro. From their point of view, it is not yet clear what specific additional benefits the digital euro should offer compared to existing payment methods. Established systems such as real-time transfers already meet many requirements in terms of speed and security. A parallel system would primarily cause additional costs and complexity without creating any recognizable added value for customers.
High costs in several areas
The current PwC study now examines in detail the costs that banks will incur when introducing the digital euro. Cost drivers include the adaptation of mobile banking apps, web banking and physical payment cards. The changes to payment terminals in retail are also expensive. The ATM infrastructure would also have to be adapted. PwC estimates the costs for this alone at an average of 9 million euros per bank.
The authors of the study from PwC’s Munich and Milan offices also emphasize that the introduction of the digital euro will tie up almost half of the available specialists for years to come. The staff shortage could block innovations in payment transactions.