Pan-European Settlement

Definition ∞ Pan-European Settlement refers to the process of finalizing financial transactions across multiple European countries using a unified or interconnected system. This objective aims to streamline cross-border payments and securities transfers, reducing costs and increasing efficiency within the European financial market. It seeks to remove fragmentation in settlement processes.
Context ∞ The pursuit of pan-European settlement is a long-standing goal within the European Union, with initiatives like Target2-Securities (T2S) facilitating harmonization. Recent discussions often involve the potential role of distributed ledger technology and central bank digital currencies in further modernizing and integrating these settlement infrastructures. These discussions address issues of speed, cost, and risk management.