Update of the assessment of links between securities settlement systems

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank has updated the assessment of links between securities settlement systems (SSSs) eligible for the settlement of collateral for Eurosystem credit operations. Links between SSSs are assessed periodically against the “Standards for the use of EU securities settlement systems in ESCB credit operations” published by the European Monetary Institute in 1998.

The number of eligible links has gone down from 67 to 59 since the last link assessment in 2001. The main reason for this development is that, since 1 July 2003, only securities issued and held in an SSS located in the euro area have been eligible for Eurosystem credit operations. As a result, links to SSSs located outside the euro area do not handle Eurosystem collateral any more and are therefore no longer assessed by the Eurosystem.

The overall level of compliance with the standards is high, and the SSSs have maintained their efforts to enhance compliance further. The list of all eligible links is set out in the table below, which replaces the list published in a press release on 4 July 2001.