EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 15 September 2011 
on the categories of intermediaries authorised to maintain accounts for dematerialised securities 
denominated in foreign currency or units of account 
(CON/2011/71) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 15 August 2011, the European Central Bank (ECB) re ceived a request from the Belgian Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on a draft royal decree ame nding the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994 laying down 
the rules for maintaining accounts fo r dematerialised securities denominat ed in foreign currency or units 
of account (hereinafter the ‘draft royal decree’).  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the fifth indent  of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft legislation concerns settleme nt systems. In accord ance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft royal decree 
1.1 The draft royal decree aims to improve the ma rketability of dematerialised Belgian public debt 
securities denominated in foreign currency or units of account
2 by increasing the number of 
intermediaries authorised to ma intain accounts for such securities3. These securities are held in the 
securities settlement system administered by the Nationale Bank van België /Banque Nationale de 
Belgique (NBB), the NBB-SSS4. The two new categories of intermediaries that will be authorised 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  These public debt securities are mainly governed by: (a ) the Law of 2 January 1991 on the market for public debt 
securities and on monetary policy in struments; and (b) the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994 laying down the rules for 
maintaining accounts for dematerialis ed securities denominated in foreign currency or units of account.  
3  Currently, these intermediaries are the following NBB-SSS participants: (a) the NBB; (b) Clearstream Banking and 
Euroclear France; (c) Euroclear Bank; and (d) the participant w ho is either the issuer, or the paying agent designated in 
the issuing agreement (Article 1 §2 of the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994).  
4  See Article 4 of the Law of 2 January 1991 which designates the NBB as the settlement ins titution entrusted with holding 
dematerialised Belgian public de bt securities and th e settlement of transa ctions therein.  
ECB-PUBLIC 
2 to maintain account s for these securities5 were selected for their ab ility to process cash flows in 
foreign currency or in units of account6.  
1.2 In addition, the concept of ‘foreign currencies’  defining the scope of the Royal Decree of 14 June 
1994 will cover the ‘foreign currencies for whic h the ECB publishes daily foreign exchange 
reference rates’7, instead of referring to the monetary units  of the members of the Organisation for 
Economic Co-operation and Development. These daily foreign exchange reference rates will also 
be used for calculating the euro value of the securities8. Finally, the draft royal decree will reflect in 
the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994, the abolition of the principle of ‘direct and single access’ to the 
NBB-SSS that entered into force in 2006 already9. 
 2.  General observations  
The ECB welcomes the draft royal decree as it will allow for a much wider range of financial institutions 
participating in NBB-SSS to maintain accounts for dematerialised Belgian public debt securities 
denominated in foreign currency or units of account. In June 2011, a TARGET2-Securities (T2S) 
taskforce had indeed already indicated that the restri cted categories of NBB-SSS participants authorised 
to maintain accounts for such securities were obs tacles to smooth cross-CSD settlement in T2S
10. In 
addition, this development is in line with the reco mmendation issued by the European System of Central 
Banks (ESCB) and the Committee of European  Securities Regulators (CESR) concerning access 
(recommendation 14)11, which states that rules and requirement s restricting access to securities settlement 
systems should be aimed solely at controlling risk. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   
                                                 
5  The two following categories of NBB-SSS participants will be added: (a) securities settlement institutions, as defined in 
Article 2 of the Law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and on financ ial services; and (b) paying 
agents responsible for the servicing of  an on-going issue of securities with NBB-SSS (new Article 1 §2 of the Royal 
Decree of 14 June 1994, amended by Ar ticle 1 of the draft royal decree).  
6  Fourth recital to the draft royal decree. 
7  New Article 1 §3 of the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994,  amended by Article 1, 3° of the draft royal decree. 
8  New Article 3, 1° of the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994, amended by Article 2 of  the draft royal decree. 
9  The requirement in the Law of 2 January 1991, that aut horised intermediaries maintain dematerialised public debt 
securities only and/or directly on accounts held with the NBB’s settlement system or with a participant in that system (i.e. 
the principle of ‘direct and single access’) was repealed by Article 19 of the Law of 15 December 2004 relating to 
financial collateral and various  tax provisions in relation to in rem  collateral arrangements and loans relating to financial 
instruments. This allowed for the establis hment of a multi-tiered system of indi rectly held dematerialised public debt 
securities (see Opinion CON/2004/27, paragraph 15). 
10  See section 2.8.2 of the June 2011 Issue List for Task Force on smooth cross-CSD settlement, available on the ECB’s 
website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
11  See the ESCB-CESR Recommendations for securities settlement  systems and recommendations for central counterparties 
in the European Union (2009), available on the ECB website at  www.ecb.europa.eu.   
ECB-PUBLIC 
3 Done at Frankfurt am Main, 15 September 2011. 
 
[signed] 
 
The Vice-President of the ECB 
Vítor CONSTÂNCIO