European Central Bank chooses SIA and Colt for the access network to the Eurosystem’s payments, securities and collateral infrastructures

SIA and Colt will provide all European financial institutions with connectivity services to TARGET2, TIPS, TARGET2-Securities and to the ECMS through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG) starting November 2021. The two companies have been awarded a 10-year concession, according to a press release.

SIA, in partnership with Colt Technology Services, has won a tender commissioned by the European Central Bank for the provisioning of connectivity services allowing European central and commercial banks, central depositories, automated clearing houses and other payment service providers to connect directly to Eurosystem market infrastructures through a single access interface (Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway – ESMIG).

Thanks to the concession granted to SIA and Colt as Network Service Providers for the ESMIG, starting from November 2021, all the key organisations in the European financial system will be able to access the platform for the settlement of large-value payments TARGET2, the instant payments settlement service TIPS, the securities settlement platform TARGET2-Securities (T2S), the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS) and possibly other new services and applications.

ESMIG is a fundamental component in the implementation of the TARGET2 and TARGET2-Securities consolidation project, which was one of the key proposals of Eurosystem’s „2020 Vision” strategic plan for the evolution of market infrastructures. This project will entail savings for both financial institutions, who require more secure and reliable functionalities to be made available, and for the Eurosystem itself through a reduction in operating costs.

The partnership between SIA and Colt, signed originally in 2012 on the occasion of the TARGET2-Securities call for tenders, has led to the successful attainment of one of the two ten-year licenses for ESMIG. It was due to the organisations high technological profile and strong international presence, which saw the two companies being awarded this business.

“We’re particularly proud to have been chosen, in partnership with Colt, as one of the two Network Service Providers for Eurosystem market infrastructures. It represents a prestigious result for technology ‘Made in Italy’ and confirms SIA’s significant ability to compete at international level, also strengthening our role as an innovative partner of central and commercial banks. This award for ESMIG is very important because, for the first time in Europe, all financial institutions have the chance to select the best technological solution in a framework of free competition with considerable benefits in terms of costs and efficiency, and contributes to strengthening cybersecurity and the resilience of strategically important systems”, commented Nicola Cordone, SIA’s Chief Executive Officer.

Paula Cogan, VP of Enterprise and Capital Markets at Colt, comments: „The awarding of the ESMIG tender, seven years after the establishment of the partnership between Colt and SIA, represents a really important milestone for both companies. We are pleased to underpin the infrastructure evolution envisaged by the „Vision 2020″ program by providing connectivity and messaging solutions for the fully managed T2S platform. Colt’s network offers high levels of performance, scalability and guaranteed service levels which is why we are the chosen provider for over 650 financial institutions globally, including 18 of the 25 largest banks, more than 50 stock exchanges and 13 European central banks”.