The European Central Bank's decision to place itself at the heart of the securities settlement process was greeted with confusion that was only marginally alleviated by last week's meeting between the ECB, banks and central securities depositories.

Given the vagueness of a statement published on July 7, in which the ECB said it was "evaluating opportunities to provide efficient settlement services for securities transactions in central bank money", banks and depositories pressed officials for more detail. The central bank called an impromptu meeting in Brussels on July 19, but many attendees said they left confused.