The European Central Bank (ECB) has appointed network provider SIA and Colt to be the gateway for its Eurosystem payments, securities and collateral market infrastructures.
This will allow European central and commercial banks, custodians, central securities depositories (CSD) and clearing houses to connect directly to these infrastructures through a single access interface, the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG).
Beginning from November 2021, organisations with the European financial system will be able to access the platform for the settlement of large-value payments under TARGET2, the instant payments settlement service TIPS, the pan-European securities settlement platform TARGET2 Securities (T2S), and the incoming Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS).
“We’re particularly proud to have been chosen, in partnership with Colt Technology Services, as one of the two network service providers for Eurosystem market infrastructures,” said Nicola Cordone, CEO, SIA.
“This award for ESMIG is very important because, for the first time in Europe, all financial institutions have the chance to select the best technological solution in a framework of free competition with considerable benefits in terms of costs and efficiency, and contributes to strengthening cybersecurity and the resilience of important systems.”
Earlier this month, the ECB granted SWIFT a network licence enabling it to provide connectivity services to the ESMIG.
The ECB is planning to consolidate all of its TARGET projects, with SWIFT and SIA as the main access points to all of these initiatives.