Committees and Working Groups

Operations Committee

The Operations Committee defines the short- and medium term objectives in the operations area, in particular in the area of harmonising and standardising operational processes in Europe, building thereby particularly on the analytical work performed by the Giovannini Group.

 For special topics, e.g. the harmonisation of corporate action processes, expert groups are established (see below).

Corporate Actions Expert Working Group

ESSF’s Corporate Actions Expert Working Group is actively engaged in working out market standards in the area of corporate actions thus contributing to the dismantling of Giovannini Barrier 3. It also participates in the pan-European Corporate Actions Joint Working Group chaired by the Managing Director ESSF.

Settlement Working Group

Developing market standards in the settlement area, such as pre-settlement date matching standards and the harmonisation of buy-in processes have been the primary  focus of the ESSF Settlement Group. It will integrate the clearing and settlement working group of EPDA, contributing to the dismantling of the Giovannini Barriers 4 and 7 (lifecycle management).

It is also engaged in tackling specific issues like the change of the registration process for Spanish equities     

Legal Committee

Senior legal counsels from ESSF members and representing several jurisdictions, make up the ESSF Legal Committee which supports initiatives at EU / global level (European Commission Legal Certainty Group, Unidroit, Hague Convention) by contributing practitioners’ views to the discussion.

The Committee engages in regular contact with representatives of relevant public sector bodies.

Tax Committee

The ESSF Tax Committee contributes to practical and effective solutions to eliminate the fiscal barriers determined in the Giovannini Reports and analysed by the Fiscal Compliance Group set up by the European Commission.   

Structural Actions Working Group

The Code of Conduct, Target 2 Securities (T2S), CCBM2 and ESCB-CESR Standards are the main topics addressed by the Structural Actions Working Group which represents SIFMA members’ views and position in industry projects. It advocates the acceptance of omnibus account structure/ nominee concept and cooperates and coordinates with other relevant trade associations to increase efficiency and effectiveness

Harmonisation Working group

Task force to develop a proposal for the ESSF Board with prioritised areas of harmonisation in context of targeted industry structure and geographic scope.

EMEA Emerging Markets Working Group:

Expert group to determine gaps / issues assessed against benchmark standards, determine the markets in the EMEA area and defined issues that are of interest / priority and define role of ESSF and of individual members (with ESSF endorsement) in tackling them.