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Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Eurosystem launches procurement process for Target connectivity service providers

European authorities are inviting bidders for the provision of connectivity services to the Target services for settling payments and securities.

01 February 2019 1 comment

Eurosystem launches procurement process for Target connectivity service providers

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

The Eurosystem plans to let users choose from different service providers to connect to Target2 for payment settlement, T2S for settling securities, and Tips for instant payments, as well as the Eurosystem Collateral Management System.

The access will be provided through a Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG) according to a phased plan starting as of November 2021.

Working on behalf of the Eurosystem, Italy's central bank has launched an open procurement that will see up to three providers getting the chance to offer ESMIG connectivity services.

The estimated value of the concessions for the contractual duration of ten years is around EUR540 million, says the Eurosystem, with selection based on which bidders offer the lowest price to users.

The providers will be picked by the middle of 2019, after which users can begin negotiating with them. By the end of March 2020 the Eurosystem will confirm the list of ESMIG NSPs, once their compliance with all requirements has been checked.

Related Company

European Central Bank (ECB)

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Comments: (1)

A Finextra member

02 February 2019

This looks like a missed opportunity to create a competitive environment.

When Faster Payments in the UK opened access to its central infrastructure it purposefully created an open environment for service providers to provide access, and decided against selecting its own access provider - it wanted the market to decide.

This was a wise and successful decision - the result is eight firms are accredited to provide access to Faster Payments, and direct participation in the scheme has increased 4 fold in three years.

In contrast, the Eurosytem's approach to limit the choice for the ESMIG to just three access providers risks limiting innovation and competition in European payments.

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