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During the last few years, the ICT applications have assumed an increasing importance in the banking and financial systems, concurring to the new automated payment systems offered to the customers, both corporate and retail. New services and new technologies that make more and more articulated the global competition scenario of the banking system, just in time with the Euro integration process. Firstly the electronic cards and now the smart cards, particularly interesting for their own capability to increase the performances and the security of the transactions, are more and more spread all over Europe, as well as the POS and ATM terminals.
Billions of transactions have then to be processed electronically inside the acquiring and banking networks in order to allow this new digital scenario and the arrival of Internet, the first "networked market" is continously moving on the innovation boundary. Internet banking applications are more and more appreciated and used by corporate and retail clients and the electronic commerce is a common practice, as well as the mobile commerce is growing up. And the ICT technology can support a flexible and quick development and usage of new cards (prepaid and contactless, for example) and systems (digital cash).
In order to depict the evolutionary path that is currently going on, the "Forum per la Tecnologia dell'Informazione" supported by the SSB Group, decided to enlarge their Italian activity of reporting on the electronic cards and payment systems to the European level to better accomplish the target of building a European electronic payment system, an ambitious objective that has already collected the consensus of the European banking associations, of the central banks and of the main European banks, that are strengthening their cooperation mechanisms.
All these topics are resumed and developped inside this publication, that can be considered a useful knowledge tool delivered to the banking and financial world, to the enterprises, to the public opinion and to the institutions.

Giorgio Pacifici , sociologist of political and economical phenomena, he dealt with the implications of technology on contemporary society and social change and he has been also professor in European and American universities. Director of research branches of ICT private companies, he was also Technology Advisor for different Ministries. He published articles and essays concerning the socio-economical problems of ICT and socio-political problems.

Pieraugusto Pozzi , full degree in Electronic Engineering, has been involved in R&D international activities. Director of Forum per la Tecnologia dell'Informazione (FTI), author of papers and essays about E-commerce, smart cards, ICT security, he is contract professor at the University of Perugia.