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You have a clear vantage point over the on-
going changes in the European payment
(and global financial) landscape.
How will a network and community like
Eurogiro be impacted, both in the short
and long term, by these changes?
Whilst – in Europe – we have already seen
the impact of pricing regulations and SEPA on
the profits & losses for infrastructure invest-
ments and revenues, we of course consider
Eurogiro to be a global network provider.
In the long run, only efficient, value-based
and innovative schemes will be pursued by
Eurogiro’s members. However, every change
provides opportunities, and this is something
we see at Deutsche Bank. For example,
payments is clearly a scale-based business,
enabling us to leverage our infrastructure –
on a pan-European basis for SEPA, or on a
global basis for HVP payments. We also see
the advantage for Eurogiro in leveraging the
combined strength of the postal organisations
– in the exchange of marketing experience,
for example, and in benefitting from mem-
bers’ local innovation in the organisation’s
home market.
Partnerships – such as that of Western
Union and SWIFT – have played a key
role in the history of Eurogiro. Will this
continue to be the case in the future?
Eurogiro’s role as a means of achieving global
reach will remain attractive. As new payment
service providers enter the market, there may
even be increased demand for partnerships
with Eurogiro. It will be vital to carefully select
the right partners in order to gain the best
value for the community whilst minimising any
reputational or compliance risks.
Today, the strongest growth in Eurogiro
business is within Asia and into Asia. How
do you see Eurogiro best positioning itself
to take a role in this development?
Eurogiro is already taking an active role in
Asia – and it is essential that it does. We
have seen many success stories in introduc-
ing new Asian members to the community.
I am happy to say that, in several cases,
Eurogiro and Deutsche Bank have worked
closely together to make this possible, and I
look forward to continuing and extending this
cooperation. Ultimately, the whole Eurogiro
community can benefit from this growth area
– particularly if members’ home markets fail
to see similar growth.
The payments industry is developing ra-
pidly with much competition from known
and new types of providers. What role and
opportunities do you see in particular for
postal organisations in this market?
In many countries, postal organisations have
an amazing share of their home market. This
asset must not only be defended, but rather
leveraged in the changing world of payments
providers. An asset – especially for account
holding institutions – is the account itself,
which forms the basis of the client relation-
ship. The account is a cornerstone of being
able to meet the demands of regulators and
auditors, for example with regard to fully
knowing the underlying client and its pay-
ments behaviour. This is clearly an advantage
over new providers coming from outside the
banking/postal sector.
Finally, how would you like to influence
the future Eurogiro?
In a similar way to what we already do today
– that is, to bring our “know-how” to the com-
munity via active contribution to several work-
ing groups. This applies to both value-based
product innovation and regulatory demands. I
consider the active and successful pursuance
of both themes as the only option in achieving
our future success – if not essential for secur-
ing our survival in the future of payments.
3
Christian Westerhaus, Eurogiro Board
member since 2012 as well as member
of the Board of the EBA Clearing
Company. Christian Westerhaus is the
Global Head of Cash Product Management
and EMEA Regional Head of Product
Management, Global Transaction
Banking, Deutsche Bank
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