Despite some market concerns, the European Central Bank has signed memoranda of understanding with 27 central securities depositories serving European markets, completing the latest phase of its plan to create a single system for the settlement of securities transactions.
The ECB wants the 27 depositories to contract with a new settlement service, known as Target2Securities (T2S), beginning in 2013. The central banks of 16 nations, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, also signed the memos.
