The key role of the Banque de France and the French financial sector in European governance
The Banque de France and French financial sector play a leading role in the European governance of market infrastructures.
The Eurosystem has two bodies that facilitate dialogue with the industry: AMI-SeCo and AMI-Pay.
AMI-SeCo (Advisory Group on Market Infrastructures for Securities and Collateral) is a central committee on securities and collateral management, focusing particularly on the development of T2S. It fosters initiatives aimed at harmonising market practices, as well as the emergence of a single capital market. The committee comprises the ECB’s Director General in charge of Market Infrastructure and Payments, alongside representatives of TS2 users/participants.
AMI-Pay (Advisory Group on Market Infrastructures for Payment) is the European committee that assists and advises the Eurosystem on the development and integration of payment infrastructures. It is composed of public and private sector participants in payment systems. AMI-Pay contributes to the development of innovations and to the integration of the European payments landscape.
National application of European governance: NSGs
NSGs (National Stakeholders Groups) liaise between Eurosystem advisory groups (AMI) and national markets. Each market has an NSG for securities and collateral (NSG AMI-SeCo) and one for payments (NSG AMI-Pay). The Banque de France liaises between these NSGs and the ECB for Europe-wide projects, and is the spokesperson for the French marketplace.
The Banque de France contributes actively to the resilience and efficiency of the Eurosystem
The Banque de France is closely involved in projects aimed at enhancing the efficiency and robustness of the Eurosystem, such as the adoption of European norms and standards.
SCoRE standards on collateral management
Drawing on the work of AMI-SeCo, the ECB published a Single Collateral Rulebook for Europe in December 2019 (SCoRE), setting out harmonised processes for the management of assets used as collateral, based on ISO 20022 messaging standards. These standards are being adopted by market participants according to the subsidiarity principle, via adaptation plans that are monitored by the NSGs. A progress report on the adoption of these standards is available on the ECB website (SCoREBOARD).
T2S harmonisation standards
Under the guidance of the T2S Harmonisation Steering Group (HSG), harmonised standards have been introduced for using the T2S securities settlement platform. These are designed to facilitate exchanges via the platform, especially for cross-border transactions (between central securities depositories in different countries), and to make it more efficient and robust. The NSGs are responsible for monitoring the adoption of these standards and publish their findings in an annual progress report (T2S Harmonisation Progress Report).
Standards for securities transactions
Corporate event standards apply to operations and events in the life of securities (payment of coupons or dividends, identification of shareholders, general meetings, voting rights, preferred rights, redemptions, etc.), and are designed to facilitate these events at the European level. The adoption of these standards is being closely monitored, and is documented in an annual Corporate Events Compliance Report.
The Banque de France also participates actively in work to promote cross-border payments, notably the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments.
This has been one of the G20’s priority initiatives since 2020. The roadmap sets out operational, technological and regulatory building blocks to be completed to meet ambitious quantitative targets in terms of cost and time reductions, and to make cross-border payments more accessible and transparent by the end of 2027. It covers all types of international payments: retail payments, large-value payments and remittances (small person-to-person transfers).
The Banque de France is playing a driving role in this work, which brings together central banks, authorities and international financial institutions. Private sector actors are also playing a role as they will need to implement the recommendations for effective progress to be made.