This paper looks to provide an overview of the development and objectives of the T2S project in Europe and to assess its effectiveness with regards to the enhancement of settlement efficiency, harmonisation and cost reduction in post trade processes, along with fostering cross-border investments within the European Union.

• TARGET2-Securities (T2S) is a single pan-European technical platform which allows for the settlement of securities transactions in central bank money, in real-time, for the same cost, and following the same harmonised procedures, even on settlement transactions involving different CSDs.
• T2S uses an integrated settlement model, whereby the securities and cash accounts used for settlement are located on the T2S platform, ensuring delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement by effecting simultaneous bookings on the securities accounts (provided by central securities depositories) and on the central bank money cash accounts (provided by central banks).