SIA and Colt join Swift as ESMIG connectivity providers
The Italian payments company, SIA, in partnership with Colt Technology Services, has become an accredited provider for the European Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG), reports Martin Whybrow.
Single market access is scheduled from November 2021, with the European Central Bank (ECB) overseeing the tender process.
The announcement of the selection of SIA/Colt follows closely that of Swift.
Under a ten-year concession, SIA/Colt and Swift will provide competing connectivity services for European central and commercial banks, central depositories, automated clearing houses and other payment service providers. The connectivity will span settlement of large-value payments via Target2, the instant payments settlement service, TIPS, the securities settlement platform Target2-Securities (T2S), and the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS), plus any new services and applications.
The ESMIG is key to the Eurosystem’s “Vision 2020” strategic plan for the evolution of market infrastructures. The project is intended to bring savings for financial institutions and for the Eurosystem itself through a reduction in operating costs.
Italy-based SIA and UK-based Colt have worked together since a 2012 call for tendersfor T2S. Nicola Cordone, SIA’s CEO, says: “We’re particularly proud to have been chosen, in partnership with Colt, as one of the two Network Service Providers for Eurosystem market infrastructures… This award for ESMIG is very important because, for the first time in Europe, all financial institutions have the chance to select the best technological solution in a framework of free competition with considerable benefits in terms of costs and efficiency, and contributes to strengthening cybersecurity and the resilience of strategically important systems.”
Colt claims 650+ financial institutions as users of its network, including 18 of the 25 largest banks, more than 50 stock exchanges and 13 European central banks. SIA, a long-standing cards, payments and institutional services provider, has an ambitious 2019-2021 European expansion plan, which includes a substantial increase in headcount.
