Globalisation is changing all aspects of our lives. Financial services are no exception. There is a growing need for more integration across borders and in Europe a number of initiatives have been implemented which may serve as an inspiration for other regions. </p> European financial market integration</strong></p> The ambition of the European Union to build a single market for goods, services, capital and labour is an immense project. A cornerstone was the introduction of a common currency in 1999. Since then considerable effort has been put into deepening financial integration across the continent. The large-value payment system TARGET was developed and launched, followed by the SEPA project which introduced common rules and practices for retail payments in Europe. </p> However, the securities settlement landscape in Europe remained fragmented with over 30 national securities settlement systems, meaning different rules, standards and legal frameworks. Happily, today the situation has completely changed. </p> A single securities settlement platform</strong></p> The pan-European securities settlement platform TARGET2-Securities (T2S) has been in operation since 22 June 2015. The ambitious project of the Eurosystem (the European Central Bank and the central banks of the euro area) provides a state-of-the-art IT platform for securities settlement in central bank money. Central securities depositories (CSDs) from 21 European countries will migrate their settlement activities to T2S in waves, by 2017. Currently, five CSDs – from Greece, Italy, Malta, Romania and Switzerland – settle on the platform. T2S was developed as a multi-currency settlement system and it is expected that securities settlement against Danish kroner will be available as of 2018. </p> T2S beyond Europe</strong></p> Europe is not the only geographical area looking for deeper market infrastructure integration. Emerging economies with rapidly progressing financial markets, such as those in South-East Asia and the Americas, have strengthened their business relations with the objective of bringing their financial systems and market infrastructures closer together. </p> Whether or not the European experience can be useful for other regions seeking increased harmonisation and integration remains to be seen. The future will also show whether T2S will attract more international investors to Europe by providing a single gateway to all participating markets. </p> To take the industry’s pulse, in the special paper “</p> </svg> t2s_specialseries_issue5.pdf </a> </p> </div> </div> ” we spoke with 17 representatives of the post-trade industry around the world about the opportunities and challenges they face in the globalised financial environment, as well as how they see the impact of T2S on their business and whether it has sparked an appetite for similar initiatives in their region.