common european objective of creating a truly transparent and integrated european financial market in line with the single market agenda. the eurosystem will continue to play an active role in the payment industry by offering several types of service and infrastructure to the financial market. it has proven that it is capable of managing large - scale facilities and now provides a borderless core infrastructure for real - time settlement in central bank money with target 2. furthermore, a medium - term project for the next generation of collateral management has been launched under the name of “ collateral central bank management ” ( ccbm2 ), the objective of which is to consolidate and enhance the efficiency of the eurosystem ’ s collateral management systems to the benefit of eligible counterparties. currently, there is a public consultation on the draft ccbm2 user requirements under way, in which market participants have been invited to provide their comments by 5 may 2008. let me also elaborate on the new target2 securities ( t2s ) project. the t2s project is the eurosystem ’ s proposal for making cross - border securities settlement transactions in central bank money as secure, efficient and cheap as domestic settlement transactions are today. t2s will build on and benefit from the newly released target2 system thereby combining cash and securities settlements – in real time – within a single european infrastructure. this will be europe ’ s single “ pipeline ” settlement system, a system similar to those that have already been implemented by other economic areas. i firmly believe that t2s will contribute to speeding up market integration and fostering the necessary competition in europe, to the benefit of financial participants and the citizens of europe. the t2s project will act as a driver to remove even more barriers of the kind already identified by the giovannini group, as well as help users to identify the irreducible costs of unresolved barriers in the new efficient borderless settlement environment. this project will also advance the european harmonisation process, creating opportunities for further cost savings and allowing market participants to easily select and choose post - trade partners irrespective of their location within the single market. the impact of t2s on harmonisation is already being felt, building on the valuable work carried out by the csds. the harmonisation process goes far beyond pure settlement activities and will increase the pressure for swift action to harmonise practices, especially in relation to corporate activities, taxes, laws and regulations. the dynamic and second - round effects of t2s will pass through the

new provisions, designed in part through discussions with associations of banks, other intermediaries and consumers, to make the protections for correctness in dealings with customers more effective. with these new rules we intend to make the documents for customers clearer, more concise and comparable. the instruments governing the most common products, mortgage loans and current accounts, will be especially incisive. for some time now we have intensified our controls. as far as it is within our power, we have directed them to substantial and not merely formal compliance with the rules. in the last three years we have performed checks at 452 intermediaries and more than 2, 300 branches. where we have found specific violations of the rules on notifying the public of the conditions offered, we have initiated sanction procedures ( a total of 49, 11 of which have concluded with the levying of sanctions ). in 206 cases, though the grounds for formal sanction were lacking, we called upon the intermediary to comply more closely in substance with the rules ; we asked for the introduction of organizational arrangements and internal controls to guarantee better customer relations. where necessary, intermediaries were required to refund sums of money unduly collected from customers and report on this to the bank of italy. recently we have extended our controls to banks ’ websites, in order to make sure that on - line customers have protection equivalent to that enjoyed by those using the traditional branch network. bank customers often write to the bank of italy to report what they consider to be incorrect conduct. we receive nearly 6, 000 letters a year. in every single case we respond to the writer and ask the bank involved to explain its position, providing a clear answer and reporting it to us. where necessary, we take the appropriate supervisory measures. on mortgage loans, we have reminded intermediaries of the need to join in the interbank procedures for loan portability. recent rules changes now allow sanctions for noncompliance. on current accounts, we conduct an annual sample survey of banks ’ terms and conditions, whose results will be presented in our annual report. * * * the crisis has highlighted the need to correct some significant features of the international financial architecture. more robust capital requirements for banks together with measures to counter their pro - cyclical effects ; limits on excessive leverage for financial institutions ; the extension of prudential rules to segments of financial business that in some countries have largely escaped coverage ; strengthening the role of central banks in guaranteeing the macroeconomic