The first edition of the European Capital Markets Forum took place on 29 January 2025. This unique event, held during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, brought together economists, industry leaders, and policy makers to discuss the key challenges and opportunities facing the European financial market. KDPW and KDPW_CCP were the co-organisers of the event alongside the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE).
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss how to make European capital markets more integrated and competitive and how to adopt innovative strategies to meet the challenges of the future.
The event was opened by the hosts of the Forum: KDPW and KDPW_CCP CEO Maciej Trybuchowski and Warsaw Stock Exchange CEO Tomasz Bardziłowski. The Forum began with an address by Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański, followed by a keynote from Klaus Löber, Chair of CCP Supervisory Committee speaking on behalf of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The panel “Post-Trade Harmonisation in Europe: What has already been done? What is there left to do?”, hosted by the KDPW Group, was dedicated to post-trade, i.e. the European clearing houses and central securities depositories. These institutions have key responsibility for the efficiency of the capital markets. They ensure safe and timely clearing of transactions and are responsible for the flow of securities and cash, including cross-border flows.
“The Polish capital market would not have developed as it has for small and medium-sized companies had it not been for local institutions which stimulate the interest of Polish investors and which at the same time invest in the development of the Polish capital market. Despite the existing fragmentation in Europe, the share of foreign investors in turnover on GPW’s main market was high at 67 percent in H1 2024. From the point of view of post-trade institutions, it is important to remove barriers to cross-border settlement, including through changes in securities law, corporate law, tax law, and further harmonisation of corporate action market practice in the EU. All these areas are regulated by national jurisdictions and differ from each other, impacting settlement processes. Today’s technological solutions support operational cooperation between CSDs and clearing institutions without the need to create a single entity. However, legal factors often stand in the way,” said KDPW and KDPW_CCP CEO Maciej Trybuchowski.
The speakers also discussed the change in the settlement schedule from T+2 to T+1, planned for October 2027. This will benefit market participants, including shorter time to receive assets (financial instruments, cash) from transactions. It will also help to harmonise post-trade processes for investors operating in different markets (e.g. USA, Canada, India, where T+1 cycles are already in place). However, this change also carries some risks (less time to prepare and send instructions through the chain of intermediaries in the market, less time for the settlement counterparties to obtain foreign currency, especially with less liquid currencies), which is why all market participants need to prepare well for the process.
Speakers in the discussion on post-trade included: Klaus Löber, Chair of CCP Supervisory Committee, ESMA, Godefroid Lamboray, Executive Director, Clearstream, Ilse Peeters, Head of Government Relations & Public Affairs, Euroclear, and Maciej Trybuchowski, KDPW and KDPW_CCP CEO. The discussion was moderated by Anna Kulik, Secretary General, European Central Securities Depositories Association (ECSDA).
Apart from the panel on post-trade and the challenges it is facing, others panels were dedicated to the Capital Markets Union, development of investments, and raising funds on the capital market.
The European Capital Markets Forum is a platform for exchange of experiences and views on the key challenges facing the European capital markets. The event participants had the opportunity to hear interventions focusing on strengthening market resilience, developing cross-border investment, and promoting regulatory harmonisation. Organised during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the event is an important step towards achieving Europe’s strategic objectives in the area of finance and innovation.
The organisers of the European Capital Markets Forum were KDPW, the clearing house KDPW_CCP, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW), and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges; the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union was the Honorary Patron of the event.
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