Press Release: European Commission welcomes report on cross-border clearing and settlement in the European Union

The EU infrastructure for clearing and settling cross-border transactions remains highly fragmented according to a report submitted to the European Commission today by Alberto Giovannini, as Chairman of the group of financial experts offering advice to the European Union on capital market issues (Giovannini Group). Fragmentation creates barriers to the efficient delivery of clearing and settlement services. To tackle these barriers, the Group suggests that clearing and settlement in the EU could be significantly improved by market-led initiatives to convergence and/or ensuring inter-operability as regards technical requirements and market practices across national systems. On the other hand, the removal of barriers related to taxation and legal certainty is clearly the responsibility of the public sector.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/economy_finance/publications/giovannini/clearing1101_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/comm/economy_finance/publications/giovannini/clearing1101_en.pdf

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