The European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum facilitates and strengthens the exchange of information on financial services and Europe's financial markets between the financial industry and the European Parliament
The European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum facilitates and strengthens the exchange of information on financial services and Europe's financial markets between the financial industry and the European Parliament
 
Clearing and Settlement - Market Change and Public Interest
Introduction

The clearing and settlement systems and processes in Europe are fragmented across many national and international providers, which results in the cost of cross border transactions being significantly higher than the cost of domestic transactions. This can discourage pan-European investment strategies and trading. This problem was recognised some years ago and is being addressed by many official and/or market led initiatives aimed at identifying and addressing barriers to efficiency and also operational risk concerns.

Most recently in March 2004, DG Markt published a Communication that outlined its proposed approach to addressing this problem titled: “Clearing and Settlement in the European Union – the Way Forward” and invited the European Parliament to endorse this approach.
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1. Background
When the Financial Services Action Plan was drawn up in 2000, it was conceived that regulation of securities clearing and settlement processes in the EU should be covered as part of the Investment Services Directive upgrade. After public consultation, the Commission decided that impediments to cross-border clearing and settlement required specific focus and DG Markt, DG Ecfin and DG Competition have all been involved in exercises to review the dynamics of the market. The European Parliament and market practitioners also took initiatives in this area.

17 November 2004

 

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