Practitioners Creating Pan-European Payment Infrastructures WELCOME
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ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Practitioners Creating Pan-European Payment Infrastructures WELCOME 2 The Company’s Mission 3 Chairperson’s Statement 7 CEO’s Statement and Strategic Aims THE COMPANY’S ACTIVITIES IN 2020 AND OUTLOOK FOR 2021 12 Services 41 Risk Management 53 Governance 69 Financials 13 Introduction 42 Corporate Risk 54 Corporate Governance 70 Statutory Accounts 15 EURO1 Service Management 68 Environmental, Societal 79 Subsidiary Report 18 STEP1 Service 45 Internal Audit and Governance Statement 20 STEP2 SEPA Services 46 Legal and Regulatory 24 RT1 Service 50 Oversight of EBA CLEARING 29 STEP2 Card Clearing Service 32 SEDA 34 Operations 37 R2P Project 40 IXB Initiative APPENDICES 81 List of EBA CLEARING 82 List of EURO1/STEP1 88 List of STEP2 CC 90 Annual Accounts for 2020 Shareholders Participants Participants 84 List of Participants 89 List of RT1 Participants in STEP2-T WELCOME EBA CLEARING ANNUAL REPORT 2020 / PAGE 1 OF 92 CONTENT OVERVIEW WELCOME SERVICES RISK MANAGEMENT GOVERNANCE FINANCIALS APPENDICES MISSION AND STRATEGIC AIMS The Company’s OUR MISSION OUR OBJECTIVES EBA CLEARING’s mission is to deliver market infra- EBA CLEARING aims to allow cost optimisation for its structure solutions for the pan-European payments in- users, and is not seeking profit or shareholder value Mission and dustry, to support its users’ needs in line with user re- maximisation. In pursuing its mission, EBA CLEARING quirements. is guided by the objective to offer its users solutions Strategic Aims that are fit for purpose and efficient, with a special fo- The strategic aims of the Company are to ensure a cus on safety and ensuring compliance with regulato- pan-European and country-neutral approach for the ry and oversight requirements. EBA CLEARING recog- development and delivery of infrastructure solutions, nises its role in supporting financial stability and thereby ensuring excellence and robustness in deliv- promoting fair and efficient markets; it is committed to ering our services. EBA CLEARING will maintain its discharging these responsibilities. track record of timely delivery of user-driven solutions responding to evolving and new demands for infra- structure solutions, thereby demonstrating its open- ness to stakeholders’ needs and agility in its role as E-U-R-O-P-A a market infrastructure solutions provider. E xcellence U ser-driven R obustness O penness to stakeholders’ needs P an-European A gility EBA CLEARING ANNUAL REPORT 2020 / PAGE 2 OF 92 CONTENT OVERVIEW WELCOME SERVICES RISK MANAGEMENT GOVERNANCE FINANCIALS APPENDICES CHAIRPERSON‘S STATEMENT Chairperson’s Statement In more ways than most of us could have imagined, 2020 was a year of change: much of this change came in the form of disruption, rather than transformation, and where it was action-driven, it often consisted in adaptation rather than innovation. EBA CLEARING ANNUAL REPORT 2020 / PAGE 3 OF 92 CONTENT OVERVIEW WELCOME SERVICES RISK MANAGEMENT GOVERNANCE FINANCIALS APPENDICES CHAIRPERSON‘S STATEMENT Compared to the enormous consequences the Covid-19 At EBA CLEARING, we are proud that our business The future framework for this emerging digital reality, pandemic and related containment measures entailed continuity measures and procedures proved to be fit and a number of its collective deliverables, took on a for many other business sectors, it is fair to say that for purpose in the face of this global crisis. Their de- more concrete shape during the period under report the European payments industry saw relatively little ployment, in close cooperation with our critical service through the strategic direction provided by European impact. In spite of the large-scale adjustments that providers, ensured continued smooth operations for authorities. coping with the pandemic has entailed for our daily all our services throughout the period under report and lives and (home) office arrangements, our payment in- had no impact on our service users. Examples included the publication of the Digital Finan- frastructure systems have continued to serve as a sta- ce Package by the European Commission in Sep- ble and reliable backbone to the European economy This was in line with the top priority that EBA tember 2020 and the European Central Bank’s public since the first lockdown hit in March last year. CLEARING, as an operator of two systemically impor- consultation on a digital euro, which ran from October tant payment systems (SIPS), gives to the resilience of 2020 to January 2021. Both institutions placed a its systems in any of its strategic considerations. To strong emphasis on fostering European autonomy in this effect, the Company places a major focus on the payments by supporting the development of payment maintenance and development of the IT architecture initiatives and solutions with a European identity and At EBA CLEARING, we are of its systems, the regular testing of its business con- governance as well as a pan-European scope and tinuity arrangements as well as the monitoring and reach. proud that our business assessment of its risk environments, including in continuity measures and the area of cyber security. Continuous effort is also With its European DNA and governance as well as its devoted to the strengthening of office automation in- pan-European infrastructure services and user com- procedures proved to be fit frastructure and processes, which enabled a seamless munity, my fellow Board members and I consider EBA for purpose in the face of deployment of home office capabilities during the CLEARING as being optimally placed to continue its pandemic. contribution of important building blocks to the this global crisis. competitive European payments ecosystem that the While the operational robustness of payment systems European authorities are seeking to further grow and and providers took centre stage in 2020, the pandem- nurture. In this vein, the Company completed the ic also accelerated the move from cash to electronic implementation of its latest building block, the pan- payments in retail commerce. This underpinned the European request to pay messaging infrastructure ser- financial industry’s striving for the implementation of fully digitalised end-to-end processes in payments. EBA CLEARING ANNUAL REPORT 2020 / PAGE 4 OF 92 CONTENT OVERVIEW WELCOME SERVICES RISK MANAGEMENT GOVERNANCE FINANCIALS APPENDICES CHAIRPERSON‘S STATEMENT vice (dubbed R2P), in late 2020. Preparations for the In line with the Company’s long-standing strategic Preparations for the ISO 20022 migration of EURO1 introduction of request to pay across Europe are in full approach to efficiently leverage existing system and are also on track and fully aligned with TARGET2 swing and R2P will be one of the first infrastructure user assets and minimise the user impact of any in- developments in order to maintain switchability of solutions available in the market to enable the ex- dustry changes, preparations are ongoing to optimally payments between the two systems going forward. In change of request to pay messages among providers: support the RT1 user community in meeting the instant spite of a slight drop in participant figures, EURO1 following the launch of the EPC SEPA Request-to-Pay payment requirements to be introduced by the Euro- Scheme in June, we expect to see pioneering users system at the end of 2021. These changes will enable join the new service before the end of the year. PSPs to consolidate their liquidity management for in- stant payments and actively manage this liquidity The R2P Service could become a game changer for around the clock, which is expected to make it easier Following the launch of the the adoption of instant payments, thanks to the tre- for PSPs to scale up their instant payment offerings. mendous potential it holds in combination with instant EPC SEPA Request to Pay payments for many use cases. Because of its stand- Enhanced liquidity monitoring and management capa- Scheme in June, we expect to ardised, ISO 20022-based data exchange, request bilities also played a role in the Company’s continuing to pay may also prove to be a key enabler of pan- work on the modernisation and further strengthening see pioneering users join European end-user solutions at the point of sale or in of its two SIPS, EURO1 and STEP2. Based on the our new R2P Service before e-commerce, such as those that the European Pay- evolved liquidity management functionality and the ments Initiative (EPI) plans to deliver. benefits offered by the continuous gross settlement the end of the year. (CGS) mechanism implemented for the STEP2 SEPA For request to pay, as for many other promising pay- Services in November 2020, STEP2 users will be in a ment developments, a wide adoption and advanced position to introduce improved service levels to their remains highly valued by its users for the cost- ramp-up of instant payments across Europe are major customers for bulk payments. effectiveness, liquidity savings, resilience and choice it pre-requisites. EBA CLEARING’s pan-European RT1 provides. In response to user requests aimed at fur- System represents a cornerstone of the instant pay- The first STEP2 Participants are moving to the CGS ther improving the attractiveness of the system, the ments infrastructure underpinning this uptake. In 2020 mechanism in late June. With the parallel running of Company focussed on the introduction of extended and early 2021, the system further extended its reach the old and new settlement mechanisms and six mi- opening hours for EURO1 and is implementing option- to 25 countries and brought to 11 the number of coun- gration windows between June 2021 and July 2022, al functionality allowing participants to request a daily tries where it provides connectivity to a critical mass EBA CLEARING offers maximum flexibility to the overnight return of their liquidity pool shares. of payment service providers. migrating user community while ensuring that the mi- gration is completed ahead of the move of large-value payments to ISO 20022.