"This book is designed to provide the reader with an insight into the main concepts involved in the handling of payments, securities and derivatives and the organisation and functioning of the market infrastructure concerned. Emphasis is placed on the general principles governing the functioning of the relevant systems and processes and the presentation of the underlying economic, business, legal, institutional, organisational and policy issues. The book is aimed at decision-makers, practitioners, lawyers and academics wishing to acquire a deeper understanding of market infrastructure issues. It should also prove useful for students with an interest in monetary and financial issues."--Introduction (Pg. 20, para 8).

Active use of local currency-denominated bonds for cross-border collateral transactions could help the development of regional bond markets by mitigating risks, reducing the credit costs of financial institutions, and expanding market liquidity. This report identifies the challenges faced by regional collateral markets and proposes seven policy recommendations for promoting the cross-border use of local currency bonds as collateral in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea—known collectively as ASEAN+3.

Comprehensive 200-page overview of the ECB from its inception in June 1998 until the present day.

The rapid integration of the euro area money markets has been closely linked to the development of TARGET), the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for the euro, which has been operational since the launch of the single currency. Following its inception in 1999,TARGET became a benchmark for the processing of euro payments in terms of speed, reliability, opening times and service level. It also contributed to the integration of financial markets in Europe by providing its users with a common payment and settlement infrastructure. During the preparations for Economic and Monetary Union, the Eurosystem was concerned by the lack of a market solution for moving eligible collateral for central bank operations from one country to another and so set up a mechanism called the correspondent central banking model (CCBM). This mechanism was introduced as a medium-term solution until an alternative could be created by the market. With regard to payments, the new generation of TARGET, TARGET2, went live on 19 November 2007 and completely replaced the, until then, decentralised technical infrastructure on 19 May 2008. Since then TARGET2 has become the flagship RTGS system at the global level. With regard to collateral, the Collateral Central Bank Management (CCBM2) project is under development.

Both studies of political power and Europeanization studies have tended to neglect central banks. As the age of the euro reaches its 10th anniversary, it is timely to reflect on what it means for central banks, which have been at the forefront of the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union in the European Union. Central banks have been caught up in a major historic political project. What does it mean for them? What does the age of the euro tell us about the power of centralbanks, their Europeanization and whether they are coming to resemble each other more closely? This book brings together a range of recognized academic specialists to examine the main political aspects of this question. How, and in what ways, has the euro Europeanized central banks (members andnon-members of the Euro Area)? What have been its effects on the power of central banks and their use of power? Has the euro generated convergence or divergence in central banking? The book offers the first, in-depth and systematic political analysis of central banks in the first decade of the euro. It places the euro in its global and European contexts, including the US Fed and the Australasian central banks, patterns of differentiated integration in European central banking, and the EuropeanCentral Bank. It offers a set of case studies of its effects on a representative sample of EU central banks (euro 'insiders' and 'outsiders') and looks at four main thematic areas (monetary policy, financial market supervision, accountability and transparency, and research). The book contributes toEuropeanization studies, comparative political economy, and studies of Economic and Monetary Union. It will be of major interest to students of the European Union and European integration, comparative European politics, and area and 'country' studies. More generally, it will interest all those interested in central banking and their pivotal and problematic position between politics and markets.

A non-technical analysis of the monetary policy strategy, institutions and operational procedures of the Eurosystem, first published in 2001.