BT and iWay Software Deliver Cost-Effective, Secure Global Trading

The European capital markets have been hampered by national origins and traditions, which have resulted in high costs and inefficiencies for cross-border clearing and settlement. Each country typically has its own centralized and integrated structure, or central securities depository, to carry out this service. Handling cross-border settlements means the clearinghouse must deal with institutions that have different payment systems, message formats, and policies to handle trades. These differences have hindered market globalization. Euroclear, the world’s largest settlement system for domestic and international securities transactions, developed the Secure Settlement Engine (SSE) to consolidate five disparate processing platforms into one and provide a Common Communications Interface (CCI) to serve as the single gateway interface for clients to access all Euroclear settlement services. To develop the CCI, Euroclear needed a strong partner to build the communications network and provide secure messaging services for its clients. BT was selected as one of the key providers to facilitate two-way client communication through secure gateways.

BT is a leading provider of secure, reliable, and scalable communications and connectivity to the global financial community. The company was tasked with the challenge of eliminating inefficiencies and back-office costs for cross-border trade settlements by winning a bid to provide two-way, secure communications for Euroclear's new central Common Communications Interface. BT's strategy was to create a secure messaging gateway with straight-through processing that adheres to standards and business protocols. The company aimed to further progress in delivering €300 million in savings through a single settlement platform, which would result in significant back-office savings and higher levels of confidence through secure interactions.