ECB's Cipollone: Digital Euro to Shield Banks and European Card Schemes
ECB senior policymaker Cipollone said on 18 February 2026 that the digital euro will be designed to safeguard European card schemes and maintain banks at the centre of the euro-area payments system. The remark frames the digital euro as an integration of public digital cash with existing payment rails, intended to avoid disintermediating banks and to preserve merchant acceptance and interoperability across the bloc.
The stance highlights the ECB’s priority of balancing innovation with financial stability and payment sovereignty. By explicitly protecting card networks and bank intermediation, policymakers signal they intend to limit disruption from non-bank wallets, big tech or foreign processors—an approach that could ease adoption but will shape choices around access, privacy and liquidity management as the project advances.