European Central Bank Selects SIA and Colt to Connect to Eurosystem Market Infrastructures

SIA, a leading European hi-tech company in the payment services and infrastructures sector, recently annnouced that the European Central Bank (ECB) has chosen the company, in partnership with Colt Technology Services, for its connection to the Eurosystem market infrastructures through a single access interface (Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway - ESMIG).

ECB has already started to use the network infrastructure of SIA and Colt for testing activities with other major central banks. SIA also provides a specific solution for the processing of all messages in order to facilitate the integration of the ECB's application software with the single ESMIG access interface.

ESMIG is a fundamental component in the implementation of the TARGET2 and TARGET2-Securities consolidation project.

The ESMIG project will enable all the players in the European financial system (Central and Commercial Banks, Central Depositaries, Automated Clearing Houses and other Payment Service Providers) to access the platforms provided by the Eurosystem for the settlement of large-value payments TARGET2, the instant payments settlement services TIPS, the securities settlement platform TARGET2-Securities (T2S), the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS) and possibly other new services and applications, directly through ESMIG.

Nicola Cordone, CEO at SIA, remarked:“We feel very honoured that the European Central Bank has selected SIA and our partner Colt for access to financial market infrastructures of strategic importance for the entire Eurozone. This remarkable new international success represents further acknowledgement of the absolute reliability, solidity and security of our infrastructure and technology services, currently supporting the modernization initiatives of about 20 central banks all around the world.” 

Paula Cogan, Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing & Customer Relationship Management of Colt Technology Services, commented:"We are extremely pleased to be able to collaborate on this project for the European Central Bank, one of the largest banks in the world. We are proud to have been chosen, together with our partner SIA, to provide connectivity services to the ESMIG platform and thus allow the ECB to focus on its institutional objectives rather than infrastructure. This is further confirmation of the positive reputation that Colt has built up over the years, thanks to numerous investments in both technology and human resources, in Italy and around the world."