Eurosystem selects members for the Appia contact group

19 August 2026

The Eurosystem has selected 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions to join the Appia contact group, following a call for expressions of interest issued on 1 June 2026.

The Appia contact group will support the Eurosystem’s overall work programme on tokenisation, which encompasses both Pontes and Appia by:

• providing expertise on the operation and evolution of Pontes: members will discuss strategic business and technical topics, including user requirements, risk management, and change and release management processes, helping to ensure the platform’s ongoing development and effectiveness;
• supporting the development of a European tokenised financial ecosystem: members will contribute to shaping the Appia vision by sharing expertise and helping to implement the Appia roadmap.

The Appia contact group will begin its work in September 2026, taking over the tasks and all related activities of the Pontes market contact group and the New Technologies for Wholesale settlement Contact Group, which were both discontinued. The Eurosystem will publish meeting summaries and relevant documentation on the ECB’s website.

Pontes and Appia were launched in 2025 as part of the ECB’s strategy to support innovation in financial market infrastructures. Pontes aims to establish a bridge between market distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms and the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, enabling the settlement of tokenised assets in central bank money. Appia aims to support strategic autonomy, with the Eurosystem acting as a catalyst for a competitive, integrated, and innovative payments and securities ecosystem through efficient infrastructures and market standards.