The objective of this project is to merge the national central banks’ existing 19 different national collateral management systems (CMS) into a single collateral management system covering the entire Eurosystem. A prerequisite for a single functional approach is sufficient harmonisation. Based on a stocktaking exercise with the Eurosystem’s national central banks, a framework was drawn up. This framework comprises general principles, specifies high-level user requirements and identifies areas that still need harmonising.

At its meeting on 6 December 2017, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to realise the project.

ECMS will consist of core components (functionalities, services and processes) which have already been harmonised or can be harmonised at the Eurosystem level. In addition, there will be components within the ECMS where the individual national central banks may opt either to use the ECMS services or to continue using the national collateral management system for these areas. Non-harmonised functionalities, services and processes will not be covered by the ECMS.

Collateral management harmonisation (CMH-TF)

The task force on collateral management harmonisation (CMH-TF) was set up to develop harmonised business processes for the Eurosystem’s collateral management system.

It is the CMH-TF’s responsibility to prioritise previously specified harmonisation measures and subsequently define harmonised processes within the Eurosystem. To support the development of the harmonisation processes, five sub-groups have been set up in addition to the above task force, in which the harmonisation measures are discussed. Participants are representatives of the Eurosystem central banks, bank representatives and central securities depositories.

The Single Collateral Rulebook for Europe (SCoRE) was published in December 2019. It sets out the harmonised collateral management processes agreed by the Advisory Group on Market Infrastructures for Securities and Collateral (AMI-SeCo).
So far, the rulebook covers the following harmonisation standards for Europe, based on the ISO 20022 messaging standard:

• Triparty Standards – to be implemented by November 2022. They establish common processes for interaction between all major European triparty service providers and their participants, including the Eurosystem. 
• Billing Processes Standards – staggered implementation from November 2022. They set out a single set of rules for the transmission of billing information by post-trade service providers related to custody and collateral management, including the alignment of billing frequency and costs.
• Corporate Actions Standards – staggered implementation from November 2022. A first set of harmonised business processes have been endorsed for the treatment of corporate action events on debt instruments. Work on standards extending to other instruments, such as equities, is ongoing.

Further information will be provided by the national user bodies.