Eurex Clearing Successfully Participates in ECB’s Digital Money Trials

The company took part in the Eurosystem’s exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement, with the initiative, led by the European Central Bank (ECB), aiming to explore the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in enhancing financial market infrastructures.

Eurex explained that the trials focused on cash settlement in cleared intraday repo transactions and intraday margin calls within production environments.

The company, along with other central banks and financial institutions, tested the settlement of cash over the ledger of Banque de France, demonstrating the feasibility of DLT-based settlement in the financial industry.

Eurex Clearing believes that its resilience and adaptability ensure its clearing processes can easily operate across both legacy systems and DLT-based environments.

Additionally, the trials provided insights into the implications of adopting new technologies, highlighting that the counterparty credit risk remains unchanged regardless of the underlying technology.

“This finding highlights that the transition to DLT does not inherently alter the risk profile associated with counterparties,” said Eurex Clearing.

The company believes the exploratory work conducted by the ECB will lay the groundwork for future industry standards, particularly for interoperability between DLT platforms and traditional finance.

“Eurex Clearing is proud to participate, together with Eurex Repo and Clearstream, in the ECB’s exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement,” said Jens Janka, COO and Member of the Executive Board of Eurex Clearing AG. “These initiatives are crucial for advancing the integration of distributed ledger technology in financial market infrastructures.”