In Europe's securities market, investors typically hold securities with national central securities depositaries (CSDs) through custodian banks. CSDs are responsible for the final phase in a trade, when transactions are confirmed and exchanged for cash, and hold the liquidity for these securities. As there are more than 30 CSDs operational in Europe, which have local legal standards, propriety messaging protocols and different settlement deadlines, there is a complex web of fragmented liquidity and standards that the European Central Bank (ECB) aims to smooth through a single IT platform on which securities settlements take place. That platform is known as Target2-Securities (T2S).
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