ECSDA ISSUES INTER-CSD COMMUNICATION GUIDELINES

Posted January 7, 2009

BRUSSELS -- The European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA) has published guidelines for inter-CSD communication, marking a significant step towards the delivery of real interoperability between CSDs in Europe in line with the aims of the Code of Conduct from the European Central Bank.

“These guidelines have been delivered by ECSDA in close collaboration with SWIFT and are a major contribution to the delivery of low-cost, cross-border settlement in Europe,” says Joël Mérère, Chairman, ECSDA.

ECSDA members agreed on the guidelines and intend to use them when building new links to others or upgrading existing links. The implementation of these guidelines should reduce the costs of building links not only for CSDs, but also for their customers through the harmonization of communication standards.

ECSDA’s work on this topic has been led by a Working Group which consists of representatives of almost all European CSDs with permanent guests from the Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) and SWIFT. Besides creating a market practice for inter-CSD communication, the working group is also working on several standards issues that had been identified during the process.