Peter Norman is a London-based journalist and writer, specialising in European issues. He began a career in journalism in 1968 as a trainee for Reuters Economic Services in London. He later worked for The Times (of London) and The Wall Street Journal-Europe before joining the Financial Times in 1988 with responsibility for the newspaper’s UK and international economic news coverage. He spent 22 years of his professional life on the European mainland based at various times in Frankfurt, Bonn and Brussels. After three years in Bonn as the FT’s chief correspondent in Germany, he moved in 1998 to Brussels as bureau chief and chief EU correspondent. He has combined book authorship and journalism since returning to the UK in July 2002. Plumbers and Visionaries: Securities Settlement and Europe’s Financial Market is his second work of recent European history.

• List of Tables and Figures ixPreface xiPart I New problems. New solutions 11 Settling Securities Across Borders 31.1 Turnover in the trillions 31.2 Process and players 92 The Eurobond Market and the New York Settlement Crisis 172.1 Autostrade shows the way 172.2 Foreign dollar bonds and their settlement 192.3 From Autostrade to the New York settlement crisis 202.4 The AIBD 232.5 Settlement services in Luxembourg 253 The ICSDs – Euroclear and Cedel 293.1 Closings in Brussels 293.2 The creation of Euroclear 313.3 Establishing Cedel in Luxembourg 353.4 Cedel’s success 373.5 The wider settlement picture 394 Euroclear Fights Back 434.1 The sale of Euroclear to its users 434.2 Difficult days 454.3 Commitment to investment 484.4 Euclid 514.5 Securities lending and borrowing 524.6 The Bridge 544.7 Prospering in difficult times 55Part II Winds of Change 615 New Markets, New Tensions 635.1 Caviar and champagne 635.2 The 1980s – Deregulation and securitisation 665.3 Diversification at Euroclear 725.4 The Belgian cooperative 766 After the Crash 796.1 Strengthening cooperation and national systems 796.2 European considerations 826.3 American influences 846.4 Central bankers push for DvP 877 The Coming of the Euro 917.1 A world transformed 917.2 Beyond G30 927.3 The EMI and Lamfalussy 947.4 The growth of repo activity 977.5 The ECB and securities settlement 100Part III An Industry in Ferment 1058 The Rivals 1078.1 Euroclear and the boom in domestic markets 1078.2 Lussi and the revival of Cedel 1169 Change at the Exchanges and CSDs 1239.1 Investment and consolidation 1239.2 Seifert in Frankfurt – a story of vertical integration 1259.3 Th´eodore in Paris – innovation through IT 1299.4 Taurus and CREST – a horizontal system by accident 1339.5 The Swiss Value Chain 1359.6 Different blueprints 13610 Corporate Manoeuvrings 14110.1 Pressure for change 14110.2 A European clearing house? 14310.3 A meeting of minds in Marrakech 14410.4 Dark days for Euroclear 14610.5 The fight back begins 14710.6 The French defect 14911 Euroclear Transformed 15111.1 Euroclear separates from Morgan 15111.2 The creation of Euronext 15611.3 Euroclear acquires Sicovam 15812 Seifert’s Silo 16312.1 A flurry of initiatives 16312.2 Lussi’s fortunes ebb 16512.3 Lussi’s downfall 16712.4 The banks change tack 17012.5 Seifert secures Clearstream 17113 Europe with Two Settlement Models 17513.1 Euroclear acquires CREST 17513.2 A sub-optimal outcome 17913.3 Embedding the vertical and horizontal models 18213.4 LCH and Clearnet merge 18413.5 Fair & Clear 18613.6 Changes in structures and governance 187Part IV An Issue for Europe 19114 The EU Reacts 19314.1 The Lisbon Agenda 19314.2 The Lamfalussy Committee of Wise Men 19414.3 The Giovannini Reports 19614.4 The cost of fragmentation 20014.5 The Commission responds 20114.6 The Andria Report 20314.7 The ESCB/CESR standards 20314.8 The G30 and EFR Reports 20514.9 MiFID 20614.10 The Commission’s second communication 20714.11 The arrival of McCreevy 20815 Setting Parameters 21315.1 Algorithms and exchanges 21315.2 Seifert and the law of unintended consequences 21515.3 Exchange consolidation: an unpredictable catalyst 21715.4 Competition authorities turn against silos 21815.5 Competition and interoperability 22015.6 For and against a single CCP 22215.7 User discontent 22415.8 Change at Euroclear 22716 Work in Progress 23316.1 Euroclear’s domestic market for Europe 23316.2 Cesame and dismantling the Giovannini barriers 23817 Frameworks for the Future 24317.1 Two solutions at once 24317.2 The code of conduct 24417.3 Target2-Securities 25017.4 T2S – the follow-up 25417.5 Questions and more questions 25918 Conclusions and Reflections 265Appendices 271A References and bibliography 271B Key dates for the securities settlement industry in Europe 279C Who’s who in the history of European securities settlement 291D Glossary of technical terms 311E Postscript 329Index 333

"...will interest specialists, general readers and fans of detective fiction... grippingly relevant to current economic circumstances"  (Financial Times, Monday 7th January 2008) "virtually the only book to cover this arcane subject comprehensively, it is an essential complement for any financial market’s library." (Financial World, February 2008)"...a comprehensive and exhaustively researched study.." (Speed, Vol. 2)“Norman has produced a history of EU clearing and settlement systems” (European Voice, Thursday 14th February 2008)“...deserves to become compulsory reading for regulators and policy makers everywhere." (Global Custodian, Spring 2008)