Announcement of a Second Hearing ESCB-CESR

Announcement of a Second Hearing ESCB-CESR Standards for Securities Clearing and Settlement Systems in the EU

The Working Group would like to continue the dialogue with market participants and in particular with those institutions, which have answered to the earlier consultation, and have therefore shown interest in the subject. The Working Group would like to invite the addressees of this letter to attend a hearing to be held in the premises of CESR in Paris, on 25 May 2004. The aim of the meeting is to discuss a revised draft report before it is finalised by the Working Group, approved by CESR and the Governing Council and submitted to the relevant authorities. If you want to attend this hearing, please, register with secretariat@cesr-eu.org.

The Working Group has discussed the outcome of the consultation of last year and, in most cases, found market comments very useful and agreed to adjust the proposals to them. However, the ESCB-CESR is facing a challenge with regard to the regulation of CSDs (Standard 6) and the management of credit exposures (Standard 9). On these points, unfortunately, the Working Group received conflicting comments from market participants. In this respect, the new version of the report reflects a compromise that takes into account both the public interest and the interest of the parties involved. The new version of the report also provides a glossary on which the views of market participants are particularly welcomed.

Market participants are invited to provide comments and give their views on both the general regulatory approach being proposed by the ESCB and CESR and the specific details contained in the Report. Written Comments could be provided to the joint ESCB and CESR Secretariat: Elias Kazarian (ECB) at elias.kazarian@ecb.int and Wim Moeliker (CESR) at secretariat@cesr-eu.org as soon as possible.