The bank payment system in Europe and modularity principles: A business and economic perspective

In this chapter, I provide some insights on the relationship between technological development, financial innovation and payment systems, with the objective of understanding the strategic and relative importance of information and communication technologies in payment systems and of the role of standards in the economy of payment systems. In particular, I will examine the institutional framework of payment systems in Europe and the structural properties of information and communication technologies, in a modular perspective. Lastly, I take into consideration the main theoretical economic and managerial frameworks to analyse the processes of adoption and spread of technological and financial innovation in the economy of payment systems.