The harmonisation of post-trade processes represents an effort to unify the rules, procedures and technical standards that apply after the conclusion of a securities trade. This concerns in particular the areas of trade settlement, collateral management and corporate event processing. Its main objective is to mitigate the consequences of a fragmented European environment in which individual countries operate according to different legal frameworks, processes and technical solutions.
In the area of trade settlement, Centrálny depozitár cenných papierov SR, a. s. (CDCP), has been harmonised since the migration to the TARGET2-Securities (T2S) platform in 2017. Securities settlement takes place in both technical and procedural terms in accordance with the T2S rules. Another significant step was taken with the launch of the European Collateral Management System (ECMS), through which the National Bank of Slovakia manages assets used as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations in a harmonised manner on a single technical platform connected to T2S and the CDCP settlement system.
Source: pexels.com
Since the launch of the ECMS in June 2025, CDCP, in cooperation with the National Bank of Slovakia, market participants and relevant issuers, has been ensuring the payment of proceeds and the redemption of the nominal value of securities accepted as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations and held in the ECMS relevant accounts. These payments are made in accordance with the SCoRE standards, i.e. to the NBS cash account and through the ECMS system. However, this method of processing does not yet represent full harmonisation in the area of corporate events, which requires complex processing of the entire event through a central depository.
Full harmonisation of corporate event processing includes the use of a single ISO 20022 message format, adherence to a common event taxonomy, transparent reporting of key dates such as the record date or payday, and the implementation of cash distribution through a central depository. The benefits of such an approach include higher efficiency and accuracy of processing, better integration into the European financial market and the possibility of cross-border investment without the need to adapt to local specificities. At the same time, operational risks and costs for market participants are reduced.
A significant step towards further harmonisation will also be the planned processing of yields, interest and redemption of the nominal value of retail government bonds – the so-called Bonds for People – which CDCP will provide from 2026 on the basis of a contract with the issuer, the Slovak Republic represented by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. The changes in the systems and procedures of CDCP and its participants that this step will require will also create the basis for a broader and successful implementation of harmonized processing of corporate events in the future.
Author: Peter Nagy
