Some people have doubted the importance and value of T2S and have rightly questioned the cost of building the system against the value it will provide. Indeed the UK is still not joining despite a growing list of countries CSDs signing up. Is the right for the UK? What is the long term benefit of T2S?

Oddly the crisis in the Eurozone and the possible break-up of the Euro actually reinforces the value of T2S and significantly increases its importance for international investors in Europe.

My thinking goes like this:

The Euro breaks up and the Eurozone devolves back into single countries. However since the Eurozone and the Euro the financial markets have already actually achieved a level of integration over intervening years. Certainly portfolios are more Pan-European than before. Firms have established offices and business for Pan-European investors and operationally the CSDs and Clearing Houses has become more Pan-European.

All this seems to indicate that if Europe breaks up its currency, the infra-structure for investing has evolved and will need supporting. Hence T2S increases in importance to support Pan-European investing and the business supporting it, and the drive to reduce costs is just as important, if not more so.

Whatever happens politically and economically this year and going forward the European financial landscape has already been created and will need to be nurtured and grown. T2S in this case becomes a vitally important component to support and increase cross border investing and build growth

All this and more will be debated at the next Post Trade Forum on the morning of the 26th June, with leading industry experts who are at the forefront of this initiative, starting with a keynote from Goran Fors, Global Head of GTS Banks SEB, who will then join the august panel.