Harmonisation Steering Group

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Mandate

1. Introduction

Major T2S stakeholders have insisted that they will not be able to reap the full benefits of T2S if post-trade processes related to T2S are not harmonised. Thus post-trade harmonisation should be a key core deliverable of the T2S project. In their view unless key national specificities in local markets are harmonised, T2S will not achieve its objective.

Even though T2S includes already today, via the definition of the User Requirements (URD) and other T2S scope defining documents, considerable harmonisation agreements and standards ,there are still important issues which require further analysis and action either from the T2S stakeholders or relevant public authorities.

Upon request by the T2S Advisory Group (AG), the T2S Programme Board (PB) agreed to allocate necessary PB and T2S Programme Office (PO) resources to support the work of a T2S Harmonisation Steering Group (HSG). The group will be composed of senior PB and AG members and will be supported in its work by the PO and National User Groups. The key objective would be to steer T2S harmonisation activities in order to achieve a lean and efficient T2S.

2. Mandate

The AG mandates the HSG to:

1. Analyse the list of T2S harmonisation items prepared by the PO. The HSG provides guidance to the PO regarding the relevant issues, the proposed standards, and the priorities and implementation plans included in the list;
2. Assess and follow the implementation of the T2S harmonisation agreements and standards in domestic markets in liaising with the T2S National User Groups (NUGs);
3. Present a status update of the HSG work in each AG meeting and seek advice where necessary;
4. Advise the AG to undertake initiatives for communicating key harmonisation policy issues to the relevant EU authorities;
5. Deliver a progress report to the AG on a semi-annual basis; lack of progress in certain harmonisation items or by certain markets shall be flagged so that the AG can make proposals on how to foster implementation; this report shall be published on the ECB website and submitted to the Governing Council for information.

The mandate of the HSG is linked to the efficient launch of T2S and is therefore limited until September 2014.

3. Composition

The HSG is composed of:

• A Chairperson, appointed by the AG based on the AG Chairman’s proposal
  The Chairperson shall (1) decide on the frequency, format and agenda of the meetings; (2) conduct the meetings of the group; (3) invite external experts and/or T2S PO members to the meetings on specific topic if deemed useful; (4) represent the group in liaising with other relevant European bodies and initiatives; (5) report to the AG; (6) inform the PB.
• A Rapporteur
  The Rapporteur will be a member of the ECB T2S PO. He/she will (1) co-ordinate the organisation of the meetings and relevant documents; (2) support the Chairperson in preparing the group’s meetings; (3) draft the outcome of the meetings; (4) support the Chairperson in liaising with other relevant European bodies and initiatives; (5) support the Chairperson in preparing the reports to the AG and the information to the PB.
• Members appointed by the AG based on the AG Chairman’s proposal
  The members of the HSG shall have an appropriate level of seniority and expertise in post-trade arrangements and processes. They shall be able to initiate actions and mobilise resources in order to contribute to the T2S harmonisation goals. They should be in principle member either of the AG or the PB and be able to contribute substantially to the relevant T2S topics.
  When a member leaves the entity he/she represents, his/her membership will cease with immediate effect and his/her entity may propose a substitute member to the AG Chairperson.

4. Working procedures

Meetings
The HSG should meet as regularly as required for fulfilling its mandate. The exact frequency and form of the meetings is ultimately a decision of the Chairperson of the group but it is understood that the HSG has at least one meeting/teleconference in between two AG meetings. When considered feasible, written procedures may be applied.

Interactions with other initiatives and forums
The HSG should co-operate with public authorities and industry initiatives currently working on post trade harmonisation and use their work as starting point in its analysis. The work of other T2S AG substructures should also be taken into account when harmonisation items are assessed in the list. The T2S National User Groups (NUGs) will also be activated in monitoring harmonisation standards implementation by relevant T2S actors and markets.

Transparency
All HSG’s agenda documents will be posted on the ECB website to ensure full transparency. In exceptional cases, the Chairperson may decide not to post individual documents on the ECB website if she/he considers such documents to be of confidential nature.