Publication

Just as the EU is bringing more competition in securities markets with the implementation of the MiFID directive, and the adoption by the settlement industry of a code of conduct, the ECB is going in the other direction with the creation of a monopoly for securities settlement in the EU. Apart from the standardization of settlement procedures against central bank money in the EU, one could wonder whether it is the task of the ECB to run a euro-wide settlement system. Settlement services are better subject to open competition, and this initiative would certainly not be market-neutral.