A different kind of European union

摘要

Back offices are suffering in the securities arena due to the inefficiencies created by diversity in everything from working practices to systems. In January this year, SWIFT, at the behest of the Giovannini Group, released a consultation paper to solicit feedback on its proposal for removing the first barrier to efficiency in the EU clearing and settlement market, as identified by the Giovannini Group in its 2003 report and action plan. The paper asks for feedback from companies involved in the European securities clearing and settlement marketplace. It is one of the first tangible steps towards establishing market har-monisation in Europe, at last setting out the temporal framework for the 1999 Financial Services Action Plan.