ECB supports EU issuance service

12 July 2022

The European Central Bank (ECB), acting on behalf of the Eurosystem, will support the European Commission in its goal of ensuring the funding of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme for the recovery and transformation of the European economy after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

With NGEU, the Commission will become one of the largest supranational issuers of debt securities denominated in euro. Debt securities issued under the NGEU programme are expected to reach a total value of €800 billion by 2026.

The Commission is setting up an EU issuance service (EIS) in close collaboration with the National Bank of Belgium Securities Settlement System (NBB-SSS), a central securities depository (CSD) owned and operated by the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique. Via the EIS, the Commission will issue EU debt securities to NBB-SSS, which will act as issuer CSD, distributing the securities in the primary market via its links with investor CSDs throughout the EU. The securities will be settled in central bank money in TARGET2-Securities (T2S), but CSDs not participating in T2S will also be able to access the securities. The EIS is scheduled to go live in the second half of 2023.

The Eurosystem promotes financial market integration and supports the efficient implementation of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy. The ECB, on behalf of the Eurosystem, will cooperate with the Commission and NBB-SSS to ensure that the EIS operates in accordance with the objectives and policies of the EU and the Eurosystem.

For more information, see the European Commission’s press release.