Sibos 2015: T2S to go beyond Europe

TARGET2-Securities (T2S) can offer benefits to investors outside of Europe, delegates at Sibos 2015 have been told.

Speaking at an open forum session this morning, Mattias Pappenfuß, chief operating office of Clearstream, said: “We have an opportunity in T2S to pool collateral and make it more efficient. It enables us to mobilise collateral in Europe but also other jurisdictions to enable them to access Europe in a better way.”

He added that central securities depositories (CSDs) were well placed to offer a variety of services to bridge T2S to the international marketplace.

One of the first ways that T2S is likely to extend beyond the core Eurozone area is into the Nordic region, where just one country, Finland, uses the single currency.

Göran Fors, head of sales and market development, Asset Servicing, SEB, added: “Denmark is already taking steps to join T2S as a non-Euro country and potentially we could see Norway and Sweden join by 2020.

“But what are the benefits? Well we will see greater harmonisation in Europe and this will give investors more efficient solutions and allow the development of new products.”

There was also discussion of how T2S could provide the impetus for other regions around the world to implement their own reform to help harmonise markets, but Pappenfuß said investors should be aware of caveats.

“T2S is a unique solution for a specific situation in a particular region. Other regions might need different ideas and we can’t see T2S as a one-size-fits-all solution.”