SWIFT announces the successful migration of Euroclear’s ESES CSDs, VP SECURITIES and VP LUX and their respective communities to live operations on T2S using its Value Added Network (VAN) Solution for T2S.

Five central securities depositories (CSDs) - Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear France and Euroclear Nederland, VP SECURITIES (Denmark) and VP LUX (Luxembourg) - went live on T2S on 12 September and have successfully completed their first week of live operations on the system. All five CSDs in the Wave 3 migration to T2S selected the SWIFT VAN solution to connect to the new pan-European securities settlement platform, meaning that the SWIFT VAN is now carrying live traffic for 120 users (CSDs, Central Banks and Directly Connected Participants). With the Wave 3 volumes now on T2S, users will begin to reap the benefits of having a single European platform for securities settlement. 

The scale and complexity of this migration was significant. Through their migration to the T2S platform, Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear France and Euroclear Nederland connect approximately 40% of the total outstanding in corporate bonds, equities and funds, and 30% of government bonds for T2S markets. Euroclear Finland will join T2S as part of the final wave scheduled for 18 September 2017 and will also use SWIFT’s VAN to connect to the platform.

VP SECURITIES is the first Nordic CSD to go live on T2S and also the first CSD with a “Direct Holding” account structure to migrate. Furthermore, VP is one of the first non-Eurozone CSD to go live and open up for issues in EUR on the T2S platform.  The next milestone for VP SECURITIES will be settlement in Danish kroner (DKK) on the T2S platform in 2018.

Tim Howell, Chief Executive Officer of the Euroclear group, said: “The T2S project is a significant undertaking for Europe’s financial community, bringing many opportunities for cross-border trading and enhanced liquidity management. Reaching this milestone has taken tremendous motivation and commitment by many people. The collaboration between the SWIFT and Euroclear teams has remained focused, constructive and very effective throughout the project and this is commendable. We look forward to working with SWIFT on the migration of Euroclear Finland in 2017.”

Niels Olsen, CEO, VP SECURITIES, said: "From the start, VP has dedicated its efforts to building up the pan-European platform. We've therefore taken part in all working groups under the project. We have invested the required resources in T2S and built up a fantastic body of knowledge about T2S. With its expertise and excellent track record, SWIFT was the natural choice of partner for this gigantic project. They have worked side by side with us throughout and we are very thankful for the levels of support that SWIFT has provided during all phases - preparation, testing and migration – of our T2S project. We look forward to working with them on our next migration in 2018."

"The successful transition of Euroclear’s ESES CSDs, VP SECURITIES and VP LUX to live T2S operations marks a major milestone in the roll-out of T2S,” says  Alain Raes, Chief Executive, EMEA and Asia Pacific, SWIFT.  “SWIFT has worked with Euroclear and VP on their respective T2S projects from the outset. This was a true community effort that involved years of planning, development and intensive testing in order to ensure a smooth transition. We look forward to continuing our support for all CSDs, central banks and DCPs that are live on the SWIFT VAN, as we also prepare for another major migration in February 2017 and the final wave in September 2017. We are also preparing for the future, supporting the evolving securities industry and business models, as a result of T2S and major regulations, such as CSDR."

SWIFT's VAN Solution is enabling T2S participants to connect to the T2S platform for the secure exchange of business information, in ISO 20022 format, with the highest resilience, and with minimal risk and cost. In addition to the five CSDs named above, a large number of other CSDs, central banks and banks have selected SWIFT for T2S connectivity.