Meeting on 5 March 2010 at Eesti Pank

ESTONIAN NATIONAL USER GROUP FOR THE TARGET-2 SECURITIES PROJECT

5 March 2010, 14:00-15:30
Eesti Pank, Tallinn

Minutes of the Meeting

Chairman of the meeting: Jaak Tõrs
Secretary of the meeting: Keiu Sopp

Agenda of the meeting

1. Events held: T2S Advisory Group meetings (9-10 December 2009 and 15 January 2010), info session in Amsterdam (14 January 2010), NUG Nordic-Baltic meeting (19 January 2010), high-level meeting with the ECB and the NCBs and CSDs of euro area candidate countries (18-19 February 2010), the Experts Network meeting (19.02.2010)
2. Preparation for the T2S Advisory Group meeting in March: Agenda of the meeting and discussion of the most important subjects for Estonia
3. Other topics, including the activities of the ECSD and market consulting
4. Annual plan

1. Events held

T2S Advisory Group meetings of 9-10 December 2009 and 15 January 2010, with the participation of the ECSD
The ECSD did not participate at the latest T2S Advisory Group meetings. Kersti Kiop gave a brief overview of the materials and the official conclusions.

9.-10.12.2009

Framework Agreement - the preparation of the Framework Agreement between the CSDs and the ECB is scheduled to be completed by April 2010.
Governance shall be treated separately at the T2S Advisory Group meeting in March.
CSD eligibility criteria - five eligibility criteria were established.
Pricing - the tariff structure remains complicated and needs to be simplified. The Advisory Group members may submit their proposals preferably by 19 December 2009 but not later than on 5 January 2010. The subject will be further discussed at the Advisory Group meeting in March.

15.01.2010

The meeting recognised that the time schedule for the T2S project was being reviewed, and the term of the intermediate phases, as well as the final term was likely to be postponed.
The URD version 5.0 was frozen, retaining the option of introducing major changes affecting T2S efficiency and stability after its approval by the Governing Council, if necessary.
The options for the provision of network services were discussed. There is still no consensus on whether it would be financially wiser to use a single service provider or several service providers. The meeting recognised that, as regards service providers, the demand may significantly differ between users and CSDs.

The EENUG members maintained that the establishment of a final term should be a matter of reputation for the ECB. At the same time, process management is complicated by the fact that the ECB is not the only institution in charge of the T2S project.

Info session in Amsterdam on 14 January 2010, with the participation of Viive Sumberg
Viive Sumberg gave an overview of the main subjects of discussion:

T2S governance will be among the most important, and one of the most complicated tasks after system launch. The participants in the decision-making process, and the level of their participation are still yet to be agreed. There is still a debate over whether to maintain the current management structure or to establish a separate legal person.
With respect to CCBM2, the info session emphasised that, within the T2 + T2S + CCBM2 triangle, the three are mutually independent. However, once all systems have been launched, the interaction will provide huge benefits. The CCBM2 abolishes the requirement of keeping the collateral in the issuer's depository - a fact important for Estonia.
As regards connectivity, the info session discussed the potential options provided through the use of several network service providers.

NUG Nordic-Baltic meeting of 19 January 2010, with the participation of a representative of Eesti Pank (Kadri Martin), a representative of the ECSD (Kersti Kiop) and two representatives of market participants (Elo Tempel and Kärt Mets)

The participants recognised the necessity of the meetings, as all participants face similar problems. At the same time, the participants admitted that no further developments are made after the meetings. The representatives of the ECSD stressed the necessity of meetings between the lawyers of the participant countries, as well as the establishment and convening of small work groups.

Mention was also made of the interesting presentation given by the Danish CSD on the account structure designed for accession to the T2S.

The participants agreed on holding biannual meetings henceforth, with the next meeting to be convened in September.

Mention was made of two meetings: a meeting on direct holding to be held in Copenhagen in February, and a meeting between non-euro area countries. Estonia was not invited to participate at the first meeting.

High-level meeting with the ECB and the NCBs and CSDs of euro area candidate countries, with the participation of Kaire Torsus and Mihkel Nõmmela from Eesti Pank and Julia Segerkrantz from the ECSD

Participants at the meeting: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

An overview was given of the latest T2S project events, including the subjects of the Advisory Group meeting at which a majority of the candidate countries do not participate. Conversations with the representatives of other countries revealed that Estonia has a better-defined viewpoint on and perception of T2S, compared to other countries.

Kaire Torsus and Julia Segerkrantz gave an overview of the meeting:

The main objective of the meeting was to persuade candidate countries to decide on the accession to T2S before the end of 2010 so as to be able to participate in the testing process. At the same time, the ECB does not support the inclusion of the official currencies of candidate countries in T2S.
Decision-making is complicated by the fact that no distinct deadline has been established for accession to the euro area. Representatives of the ECB brought out Estonia as a positive example, with the increasing likelihood of the country's accession to the euro area in January 2011.
The ECB also pointed out that no exceptions will be made for those who wish to join at a later time, and that later applications will only be accepted upon full implementation of the system in 2015.
Poland signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the ECB in February 2010.

JMG tried to persuade candidate countries to join T2S immediately upon system launch and for euro settlements, despite the fact that the countries have yet to adopt the euro.

Experts Network meeting of 19 February 2010, with the participation of Kaire Torsus

The subjects of the Experts Network meeting and the high-level meeting overlapped to a significant extent.
Kaire Torsus gave an overview of the main subjects discussed:

The CSD eligibility criteria have been confirmed and approved.
The T2S Advisory Group mandate has been extended.
The migration plan for accession to the T2S has been approved. The accession will be carried out in three groups within the period of 6 months. An additional group will be set up for those not willing to join up straight away.
The URD version 5.0 was approved in February.
As regards connectivity, the number of network service providers was discussed. Still, a proposal for the selection of a particular service provider will be made at the next Advisory Group meeting.
Some issues regarding governance need to be further discussed. These issues will be addressed at the Advisory Group meeting in March.
Market consulting in the matching field was introduced. The term is 5 March 2010. When the questions have been answered, the subject will be further discussed in the work group, with a decision to be made in June.

The next Experts Network meeting will be held on 20 May 2010.

2. Preparation for the T2S Advisory Group meeting in March

Julia Segerkrantz, Andres Lips and Kaire Torsus gave an overview of the main subjects discussed at the T2S Advisory Group meeting of 10-11 March:

T2S governance - many discussions have been held and activities pursued with respect to the contract between CSDs and the ECB. The first draft was heavily criticised by the CSDs. There are a lot of loose ends. The greatest problems pointed out by the representatives of the ECSD included the lack of a distinct counterparty as well as the specific services to be used externally. We need to know the person to whom the CSDs will transfer their business activities, and who will take responsibility. It is not clear whether the ordered service constitutes IT service or settlement service.
Connectivity - there is currently a debate over whether to use a single or multiple network service providers. Even though a proposal has been made to the Advisory Group on the use of a single service provider, the service provider may not suit all users.
Roll-out of the ISO 20022 standard - from the point of view of T2S, there is dissatisfaction with the ISO 20022 standard; a proposal has thus been made to significantly change the messages provided by the standard. There are still many loose ends, but, in all likelihood, the messages will only be changed partially. The ECSD supports the implementation of the ISO 200222 standard with respect to T2S (as well as the amendment of the standard, where necessary), as the ECSD plans to use the same standard for its internal systems. Any decisions with respect to the standard are thus important for the ECSD. Estonia will face problems if it is decided that the ISO 20022 standard will not be implemented with respect to T2S.
Pricing - the participants recognised that the pricing structure is still too complicated, and needs to be simplified.

Julia Segerkrantz will participate as the representative of the ECSD at the next T2S Advisory Group meeting. EENUG members hope to see a representative of Eesti Pank at the Advisory Group meeting in June. In all likelihood, Eesti Pank will be reinstated as the official member of the Advisory Group at the September meeting.

3. Other topics, including the activities of the ECSD and market consulting

Julia Segerkrantz provided an overview of the Romanian initiative regarding co-operation between small CSDs - i.e. the activities of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) group.
Two CEE group meetings have been held in Bucharest and Madrid since the EENUG meeting in December. The ECSD was not represented at the Bucharest meeting. Julia Segerkrantz participated at the Madrid meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to give the floor to all CSDs. Segerkrantz gave an overview of the Estonian e-state system - a topic which raised much interest among the participants. Segerkrantz admitted that, even though the meeting was very interesting, it was still unofficial with no common follow-up or positions taken.

CSD contact group
Even though the CSD contact group meetings are held once a month, the ECSD has failed to participate due to lack of resources. An overview of the CSD contact group activities is expected to be received via the work group meetings.

Two market consulting sessions have been held after the EENUG meeting in December:
CSD validation hold functionality - no comments were made by EENUG members.
T2S matching field - Kaire Torsus prepared a letter, which will include two comments made by Swedbank with respect to the background material (division 3.2 "Level 1 matching" and "Level 2 matching"). The EENUG letter will be posted on 5 March 2010 close of business day at the latest.

4. Annual plan

The T2S project plan for 2010 was reviewed. The next EENUG meeting is scheduled to be held on 10 June 2010. The representatives of Eesti Pank have asked EENUG members to consider an earlier date - 9 June 2010.

The representatives of Eesti Pank also informed EENUG members of yet another info session to be held in Paris on March 24.