In its move towards the creation of a single market, the European Union has included securities settlement in its legislative efforts. Compared with the US market, costs of settlement transactions in Europe are exorbitant.
The project’s current aim is to reduce settlement cost to between €0.28 and €0.32, and its launch date is 2013. While at the trading and clearing level, competition has been developed and fostered also by regulation and voluntary codes, such as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) and the Code of Conduct, no significant development has been achieved in the settlement space.
