Eurex Clearing has successfully tested the settlement of cash over a distributed ledger operated by the Banque de France.
The tests form part the Eurosystem’s exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement.
The tests, completed on site at at Deutsche Börse Group’s headquarters and involving the participation of the German Bundesbank, Dutch De Nederlandsche Bank and Banque Centrale de Luxembourg, focused on two primary use cases: centrally cleared repo transactions and intraday margin calls. The subject of the tests was a native digital commercial paper, issued on Clearstream’s D7 platform by ABN Amro and traded on the Eurex Repo F7 platform.
In a statement, Eurex says: "This marks the first time that Eurex Clearing has managed its own wallet on a Eurosystem´s DLT technology."
The clearing house says the tests clearly demonstrated that the counterparty credit risk remains unchanged regardless of the underlying technology. This finding highlights that the transition to DLT does not inherently alter the risk profile associated with counterparties.
Claudine Hurman, director of infrastructures, innovation and financial markets directorate at Banque de France underlines: “Working with Deutsche Börse Group - Eurex Clearing, Eurex Repo, and Clearstream alike - on these trials has been invaluable in ensuring that the solutions meet the needs of all different stakeholders. These efforts are vital for integrating distributed ledger technology into financial market infrastructures, paving the way for the future of digital finance.”