Amsterdam, 23 September 2025
The Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS), implemented by Banque de France and Banco de España on behalf of the Eurosystem, using Vermeg’s technology solution, has been live since June 16 and represents a major leap forward in the evolution of financial market infrastructure within the Eurozone. For the first time, collateral and liquidity operations previously managed by over 20 separate national systems are unified into a single, harmonized, real-time platform
At the heart of this transformation lies Vermeg’s flagship post-trade processing platform, Megara, selected via competitive tender and already deployed by several national central banks. Built to meet the demands of high-performance, sovereign-grade infrastructure, Megara now powers the ECMS backbone, ensuring secure, resilient, and compliant processing at scale.
The ECMS manages a market of approximately €20 trillion in eligible assets, with more than 2,500 financial institutions connected across Europe. It integrates natively with key platforms such as T2 and T2S, and operates in full alignment with ISO 20022 messaging standards, bringing enhanced interoperability, risk control, and operational resilience across the Eurosystem.
Khaled Ben Abdeljelil, Senior Vice President, Banking Market Strategy at Vermeg, stated: “This project stands as one of the most ambitious transformations in post-trade infrastructure. It reflects a collective commitment to harmonization and transparency across Europe’s financial system — and a powerful example of future-ready infrastructure in action.”
Alexandre Gautier, Deputy Director General for Financial Stability and Operations at Banque de France, commented: “The launch of ECMS represents a major step in the integration of European financial markets. By replacing national systems with a single harmonized platform, it ensures that cash, securities, and collateral flow seamlessly across Europe, simplifies processes for counterparties, and strengthens the efficiency of monetary policy and resilience of the euro area’s market infrastructure.”
Carlos Conesa, Associate Director General of Operations, Markets and Payment Systems at Banco de España, explains that: “With the ECMS platform, the Eurosystem completes the vision 2020 projects, enabling the smooth flow of cash, securities and collateral across Europe within the TARGET services. ECMS increases the efficiency of collateral mobilization credit operations and is a cornerstone for evolving and further harmonizing collateral management services in the euro area”
In the months preceding the go-live, national systems had enabled the mobilization of over €1.5 trillion in collateral per month. With the transition to ECMS, real-time processing, asset eligibility logic, and blocking mechanisms are now centralized — delivering a consistent experience across all participating jurisdictions.
To complement the core infrastructure, Vermeg has also developed secure, compliant solutions to help non-central bank institutions including financial market participants and custodians, connect seamlessly to the new environment, ensuring smooth onboarding and operational continuity.
With an established client base of 23+ central banks and over 160 financial institutions worldwide, Vermeg continues to support the evolution of financial markets with trusted technology and long-term strategic collaboration.
References
Learn more about Megara the new ECMS backbone: Click Here
