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History On 6 July 2006, the council of the European Central Bank along with European Central Securities Depositories (CSD) and other market participants decided to start a project for a new service regarding securities settlement (TARGET2-Securities). TARGET2-Securities (T2S) will be a platform for the cross-border and domestic settlement of securities against central bank money. The platform will service the central securities depositories and will be run by the Eurosystem. The T2S project pursues cost reduction by increasing competition and price transparency. On 17 July 2008 the European Central Bank's Governing Council decided to launch the T2S project and to provide the required resources until its completion. This is the result of the feedback received in response to the invitation issued by the Governing Council to all European central securities depositories inviting them to join the T2S initiative. The Governing Council also decided to assign the development and operation of T2S to the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banco de España, the Banque de France and the Banca d’Italia. On 19 March 2009 the Governing Council offered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on T2S for central securities depositories. Clearstream Banking Frankfurt (CBF), the CSD for the German market, and Clearstream Banking Luxembourg, in its role as Luxclear, the CSD for Luxembourg, signed the MoU and were the first CSDs to announce this in early June 2009.
Clearstream’s position on T2S is constructive In T2S, we see a unique opportunity for the public and private sector to jointly shape the future of our industry. The private sector can support the project with its substantial experience in securities processing and its proven track record in delivering platform consolidation projects. These attributes, combined with the ECB/Eurosystem’s unique ability to influence policy setting and regulation on a national and European level, have the potential to provide safer and more efficient payment and settlement services, both on a domestic level and cross-border. Clearstream has constructively supported the project and the ECB/Eurosystem from the very beginning and continues to play an active role as the project moves forward. We are in a constant dialogue with our customers on this issue and have conducted roadshows together with Deutsche Bundesbank and ECB to make Clearstream’s customers aware of the ongoing consultation process. We have also invited them to contribute to the joint effort. Indeed many of our customers are already supportive of T2S as one of the tangible steps towards integration for the European post-trade industry. T2S is complementary to Clearstream’s own strategy and Clearstream considers itself well positioned to realise business opportunities arising from T2S.
Adaptation Plan Clearstream's adaptation plan shows how Clearstream will adapt its systems and processes to the T2S system. As the T2S specifications are not yet finalised, the adaptation plan provides a high level view on the internal project.
Governance Principles In Clearstream's postition paper on governance principles, Clearstream proposes an outline for the multilateral relationship of the Eurosystem, which comprises the European Central Bank and the National Central Banks of the countries that have adopted the Euro, and the nearly 30 CSDs from within the Euro area and beyond, which have signed the Memorandum of Understanding on TARGET2-Securities in July 2009.
Information sessions T2S Info sessions, organised by the ECB, serve to provide information on the progress of the TARGET2-Securities project to all interested external stakeholders as well as to obtain feedback on current proposals. Their schedule is available here.
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