The European Central Bank's Pontis system, launching September 21, 2026, provides a risk-free settlement asset using central bank money for tokenized wholesale transactions, enabling market participants to settle DT (Distributed Ledger Technology) transactions in real-time through a dual settlement model that allows settlement either on the euro system DT (tokenized central bank money) or directly in TARGET2, with initial use cases covering Delivery versus Payment (DVP) and Payment versus Payment (PVP) transactions for tokenized assets outside the target services.
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Focus Session - Preparing the go-live of Pontes
Added:Good morning everyone and welcome to the ECB focus session. Today's topic will be uh preparing for the go live of pontis.
My name is Ailen and I'm here with a great team of ECB colleagues and we will try to guide you through everything you need to know about the go live during these two hours uh this morning.
>> Um it's summer holiday. Uh so we are really happy to have such a high interest in today's event anyway. So we are really pleased to have you all uh joining us uh this morning for a few intense hours.
Before we dive into the topic of today, I just want to run you through a few practical pieces of information.
We are uh live streaming today's event.
Uh due to some technical issues, everyone is in the live stream, but do not worry, there is no difference whatsoever for you. uh you will all be able to engage with us uh via the same uh ways that you normally integrate with us. You can ask all your questions via um the QR code that is shown on the screen right now. So basically what I would advise you to do is take your phone scan the QR code and then during the session you can submit questions uh when they pop up. I think we will try to cover everything but of course it's always good that you have the opportunity to you know clarify things.
So please shoot the questions when when you have them. You can also send us email via uh ourevents ecb.uropa.eu.
So maybe take a screenshot of that or you know so you have it for later take a photo. Uh these are the two ways uh to submit questions. Please do so. We will try to pick up as many of them as possible. Uh we know from past experience that we may receive a lot of questions. So we will not be able to cover all of them today but we will do our best uh to do so. Also know that the NCB is always there to support you. So in case uh anything that we did not answer today, you are always welcome also to contact them.
Then I just want to give you a quick sneak peek of the program today. So you see it's a super interesting program.
Two intense hours we will dive into everything here on the pontis go live and then at the end we will have the latest on the appia program as well. So very interesting for you. Then before we really get started, I just want uh to highlight how you can keep up to speed about what's going on on on this uh program. Uh on the on the next slide, you will see how you can engage with us and there's different ways to do it. You can either follow our new uh LinkedIn page. So we will encourage all of you to do it. Many of you know that we have had the LinkedIn group but now we have moved this into a page. So, we would encourage all of you to follow the page. It's a great page with everything you need to know about uh everything we do at the ECB with regards to market infrastructure and payment. So, again, take your little phones, scan the QR code and uh connect to us there. You can also follow us on X or you can subscribe to our newsletter which is an email newsletter also via the QR code and you can register here. So these are the way to follow us and that's uh basically all that I wanted to say before we uh get started on the actual session of today.
So the the first speaker of today uh I'm really happy to um to have our new program manager uh for Pontis Anapia uh with us today, Andre Bruna. So I'm really pleased uh to have you on board and uh I want to hand over to you Andre and let you do the welcome address. So Andre over to you. Thank you.
>> Yeah thank you very much Ellen and good morning and welcome everyone to today's focus session. My name is Ellen said as Andre Bruna and I recently joined European Central Bank on 1st of June as program manager of Apont and Apia. So far I've worked in the area of digital asset and tokenization in the private sector and now I'm very excited for the opportunity to now support this initiative as part of the team of the European Central Bank. I'm pleased to meet all of you for this focus session and um it's great to see such a strong interest as Ellen said in Pontis and RPR with more than 600 registrations I believe coming from 30 plus different countries. Uh I personally think this is another piece of evidence uh for the growing adoption of DT tokenization and the unique opportunity for European financial markets to become more integrated and efficient. In the past and today the market participants have sent us a clear signal the availability of central bank money is essential for broader adoption of tokenization and here pontis and RPR will come into play.
Firstly, we will provide a risk-free settlement asset as of September 2026 when the new euro system service ponders will become available linking market DT platforms with target services. This will enable settlement of DT wholesale transactions and central bank money. And in this regard, I'm very happy to announce that we're working towards the 21st of September as go live for Pontis with the caveat that final confirmation will be given in early September after the conclusion of the tests with the users.
And secondly, we are progressing on RPR whereby we will be designing a future ecosystem together with the market building on the potential of tokenization and addressing the whole value chain from issuance to settlement.
This part of the work will result in the so-called RPIA blueprint in 2028.
Now for me it's it's really important to emphasize that Pontis and Apia go hand in hand and form together one program.
Last March we published the APIA road map outlining how we plan to shape the European tokenized financial ecosystem.
Pontis will now be the first core component of this ecosystem. We will continue developing ponses based on the learnings from practical and analytical work in Apia and in line with the evolution of the APIA blueprint and at the same time we will design APIA keeping in mind the continuous experience we gained with Pontis and the market actually you all have a key role to play here. Market engagement and the exchange with all of you is and will increasingly be at the heart of this work. We will build on this market practical experience from Pontis and we will join the experiment and design the future ecosystem.
Now as Ellen started already, let's have a little bit of a closer look at today's agenda. Today's focus session, we will begin with a closer look at the forthcoming launch of Pontis. George Kong Polus, chair of the Pontis market contact group, will present the current status of Pontis and how Pontis will be continuously enhanced. He will also share some first insights into expected use cases. Afterwards, Vitos Hosman from the ECB testing team will present more details about how participants can prepare for user testing planned to be started in August. Mate Misar from our market infrastructure management division will provide an overview of the operational framework for Pontis once it goes live as well as an update on the legal framework for its initial launch.
And in the last part, Han House and Pogadada will give a latest from the PRAPIA program. They will share in initial insights from the recent public consultation on the APIA road map, outline the key elements of the forthcoming analytical and practical work on tokenization and explain how we envision shaping the program in close collaboration with market participants and other public stakeholders. I hope you will all have a productive engaging sessions today. And with that, George, over to you.
Hello, good morning.
Uh, thank you. Thank you, Andre. And, um, with this a very good introduction.
Uh, allow me to have a little bit of a deep dive on more or less what you highlighted.
So I want to to spend a um a few words about where we stand today, what will happen in the coming months and what the market participants can expect uh after the initial launch.
Uh if we can move on perhaps on the presentation on the next slide. Um what is important is to highlight that the solution is already developed and it's in the process of being uh fine-tuned.
Um some of you you are aware that that was uh uh a solution to some extent uh reused and built upon what you saw in 2024 in the trials and experiments and uh of course we are finetuning the and I will say a few more a few more words on that in a minute on the actual model but we are finetuning the I would say the functionalities in view of testing what is important is that um we have uh intensified the engagement with uh the market since October 2025 and this is reflected in the Pontes market contact group. Some of you you are aware uh involving 50 participants from the market and uh also u using a full transparency um model I would say where whatever we discuss in this group is also immediately available on the website of the ACP as uh um Andre just mentioned we are in the process of u fine-tuning and finalizing the testing a lot Internal eurosystem testing has taken place in the previous weeks and vit will tell us in a moment uh the details the detailed planning of the user testing where the communities the national communities of the national central banks we need to deep dive into some of the use cases and uh indeed we are focusing on the go live preparation uh for the 21st of uh September um why this uh um milestone is is very important and uh I hope that the presentation is also moving a bit more.
Um it's important I would say for three for three key is reasons. The first one being that the uh we have a new capability uh provided by the euro system in central bank money which allows the market to innovate on use cases and uh some you would even use the word experiment but what is important it happens in real production environment.
uh safety comes from the use of the risk-free settlement asset, the central money um asset and uh this is something that uh it was a very strong message to the market in the last past 10 months. I would say the final um important element and consideration about this milestone is that this is rooted in strong clear European governance. I don't need to go into um the very well-known geopolitical context in which uh uh financial markets are operating uh these days. Um but uh it's a clear uh EU public authority decision but also clear market request that this is deeply rooted uh on European uh let's say governance and decision making.
Um a recap on a very quick recap on what exactly uh the the model is is is looks like and I see that the slides are still a bit stuck may need to move to slide 14 by the way. Um what we are what we are planning to can even go to the next slide. what what we can plan exactly thank you very much to develop and deliver as as a very quick uh I would say overview is starting from the right hand side we're talking about DT eligible DT platforms and operators of these platforms and market participants which u will be certified authorized by the national central banks to connect to the point initial loans What the eosystem will offer is the interface based on the latest uh API application programming interfaces uh to allow um the the settlement of tokenized assets outside the target services um to be settled to have the payment cash leg either on the euro system DT on the tokenized form of the central bank money or directly in target tool in T2. This is a known dual settlement model which will continue to exist. It it took place uh during the trials and experiments in 2024 and it will continue to exist at least for two years after the go live. Um what is important here is to to to highlight that uh basically there will be no changes I would say to um the interface the knowledge the experience I would say your treasurers have on the core T2 liquidity management but what is important is that the ecosystem will provide the interface for funding and defunding uh the euro system tokenized cash wallet what you see here in the middle layer.
Um moving a bit further to the timeline a visualization of the timeline in the next slide. Um and and and andre touchs upon that. Uh what the important message here is that there is a single um road map and work program focusing on the long-term uh starting with the API road map um launch paper publication in March uh targeting the blueprint that in close collaboration with the market we want to establish at least by 2021 and this will look into the long-term developments and solutions that the ecosystem may consider.
Today, of course, especially on the first part of the session, we focusing on the lower part on the pontest and um on the iterations thereof in 2027 and 2028.
Um it's very important to clarify once more that um by mid 2027 we are going to enhance what has been a very strong market request in the last 12 months and a very strong focus point I would say uh on automatizing and make immediately available the settlement finality on the tokenized cash wallets in the in the eosystem functionality. There will be finality in central bank money also from September but with some workarounds and with some additional steps either at the end of the day defunding uh back to T2 or during the day with manual procedures. We know this is not ideal and this is why more or less I would say 8 to 10 months after the go live we want to enhance it and bring immediate settlement finality on the eurosystem theory uh module in full alignment to the rest of the target services. The next um important development for 2027 is to align further the Pontes offering to the operating hours of the T2 the RTGS let's say the core payment system for wholesale transactions in the euro system at the moment this is uh 22.5 hours uh for the five business days but you can as you can see on this slide uh by 2028 we want to start working towards a more 247 solution which is what is to be expected in in this um I would say new tokenized framework and environment one clarification here which very often we have faced with the market when we discussing this element the 247 availability is not simple a technical um solution a technical challenge um equally important it's a channels for monetary policy for the treasury departments of your institutions for alignment with the rest of the target services I'm referring to collateral availability uh retail payments wholesale payments renumeration u on the balance sheet of the NCB so my point here is that we we are working towards the 247 holy today if I can use the expression But we have to do it in a structured uh way that takes into account uh all side effects and potential impacts uh on the European financial market infrastructure and on the liquidity management.
The additional enhancements which are very important for 2028 um cover the multicurrency uh possibility availability. As you know, target services are by design developed as multicurrency and as we speak today already the Danish corona and the [clears throat] Swedish corona are part uh of the tips and t2 to some extent but more currencies are joining the target services.
Um [clears throat] the final u element of u um intensive work uh for the further enhancement 2028 uh looks into how liquidity is managed the availability to have overnight liquidity and u and use the let's say align to the usual functionalities of the target services and T2 but also probably very important for the systemic acceptability I would say and um further support of tokenization in the financial market is the immediate uh u let's say involvement and participation of the balances on the tokenized cash wallet in the reserve requirements of the counterparties to monetary policy I think this is a very important element and will bring at this at this time the the DT pilot solution into alignment with the rest of the target services.
If we move to the next slide, um an important uh focus area that we both discussed with the market the last 12 months but also we have reflected in the [clears throat] system documentation you can see on the website. It's even been a reference on this slide refers to the exact exact use cases that the pontest initial launch will cover. At very high level, we speak can speak about the typical DVP or delivery versus payment um use cases uh where basically the delivery of a tokenized asset outside the target services can only take place if and only if the payments the cash leg is um is taking place on the on the on the central bank money side of bond.
what is the same equivalent um let's say model is followed for the payment versus payment the PVP and what is important to clarify here is that the the pontest solution will orchestrate and will facilitate the delivery versus payment and the and the payment versus payment I will not go into details of uh cryptographic keys to be exchanged I think this is not for the um let's say uh today's presentation but there's a very um elaborate uh technical orchestration that the interfaces between again the external tokenized DT platforms and pontes cash will uh will will organize also single so-called single payments or wholesale payments without orchestration between the two legs will also be available um as of 21st of September If we want to be to speak more on on business terms, um all the typical primary market operations of a depth issuer or or financial instrument uh issuer can be managed in a typical uh issuance versus receiving of the fund delivery versus payment um in real time.
moving away from the typical T plus 5, T plus two or three today, but also normal trading activities, secondary market transactions can also be covered. It goes the same for corporate action events or any other u again um transaction in tokenized assets outside the ecosystem um um pontest infrastructure.
It covers also and I know there is a strong interest from the market on that um on tokenized deposits and the possibility of let's say one or two institutions to exchange tokenized deposits visav versus a cash payment in central bank money. The complete list which is uh actually quite technical uh is also publicly available on the website of the ECB and uh I'm sure Elen will highlight that bit later. Um moving to the next slide. Um one of course can answer uh what is what is the benefit? Why why shall we involve be involved? Why we should be engaged and what we're going to get as market let's say innovators out of that. We are fully aware that uh the service of in September is only the first iteration. There will be enhancements. It not be the end product but we still believe that there's a lot of value for market participants to engage to settle to innovate and to learn from uh the the pontest initial loans. You can start settling your transactions in the safety of central bank money. You can develop in parallel uh and innovate further your business cases and your models. But I think the third element is perhaps even more important. You can have lessons learned from the real production environment uh and not uh let's say moving beyond the trials and experiments and that would be invaluable uh um experience and feedback both for your institutions internally but also very important for the euro system and the national central banks in moving to the next iterations.
Um connected to that brings me to the next slide which is focusing on the future market engagement. Uh you know very well in the previous months we engage very intensively uh with some of your institutions um in the fontest market contact group but also in the uh new technology for wholesale transactions settlement uh working group. Both of these contact groups will be replaced as of September by the new AIA contact group named AIA indicating the single program. Uh the purpose is to collaborate very closely both on the contest production and evolution and hear your views about how to uh for example uh do the change release management or the planning but also on the app activities.
It would be very important to hear uh your views, feedback and advice. Um there is a strong market interest. There was a call of interest one and a month one and a month half months ago. Um we're still looking into the composition. uh we try to balance between national markets um roles in the market and uh let's say um involvement um within uh what I just described upon the Synapia and very soon I think in the coming days uh you're going to hear from us formally on the website of the ECB the exact composition of the group the first meeting is scheduled for September uh before the go live and that uh will replace the existing as I said pont test and new technology or wholesale settlement um groups to conclude um moving to the next slide um again it's important perhaps to to to leave you with two messages what will go live in production by the end of September is not the end game but it's a start of the journey. We spoke about the enhancements the iterations in 2728 and in particularly what the API blueprint will advise us to do from there onwards. The second important message is that engagement with the Euro system by the way also other EU public authorities that will be part of the group could be extremely important for us to shape um the evolution of Pontes and also the definition of the AIA road map. With these words, uh, Elen probably I will pause here and happy to take any any questions if needed under your control. Eden, >> thank you, George. That was a lot of information to start off with at the before 10:00 in the morning. So, I think everyone is waking up here. Thanks so much, George. That was super interesting. We just want to reshare the the QR code for the for the questions.
So again, scan the QR code and this is the way you submit your questions. You can also send an email to us in on myip.eventcb.uropa.eu.
So these are the two ways to engage with us. Take a photo of this so you have it.
Uh, also when you uh don't remember the email address, I need to remind myself.
It's not an easy one. And again, uh, scan the QR code. So, George, I'm going to let you rest for two uh seconds and we see uh, you know, if people have digested all the information you just shared. I want to reiterate maybe that um all the material that we're using today can be found on the ECB website after the event. This is both the recording uh of the live stream, but it's also all the individual presentations. So, you will be able to see all the individual presentations afterwards. And this is how to get there. All right. So, when you're on the ECB website, you click on payments, financial stability tab up at the top, then you will have quick links. Quick links are important because there's good stuff there. You have payments uh news and events. You click on this and you get to this fantastic page, which of course should be on your uh favorites uh place to go. Uh we have news here and then we have events. If you click on events highlighted in yellow, you will get to this page. And here we show all the events that we host, all these focus sessions and any other events we may have. This is the place to go. If you click on on this, this is where you're watching the live stream right now. So, this is what you see. But below here, we will also upload all the individual presentations and the recording afterwards. So, it's a lot of takeaways uh for one morning. So, it's good to know that uh this is there uh to go back also in case you are halfway on holiday and want to rewatch or uh see everything again when you come back, that's the place to go. Also, if you forget to save the this as your favorite ECB uh page, you can also follow the LinkedIn group.
As mentioned, this is a new group. We have just launched it last week. So I would strongly encourage sorry not a group see I'm still using the old language this is the new page so it's even better you follow the page and on this page you will really be able to get all the details about what happens uh currently for uh market infrastructure and payment uh at the ECB. So this is a great uh LinkedIn page to follow. So again scan the QR code. I know it's a lot of QR codes here, but this is the easiest way for everyone uh to stay connected. So follow that one. I would encourage you to do and then I just want to quickly check um there's also the other opportunity. You know, I always try to move you to the social media, right? You you know this, but you can also still, which I know is something that many of you enjoy is the newsletter. So you can join the newsletter uh just by signing up also on our website. Uh you can do it here easily uh while you're joining this session by scanning the QR code, another QR code. Scan the QR code, sign up and then you will receive these every time we send out news. So great ways to stay up to date on what goes on uh uh of uh any anything that we do related to Pontis AIA or the target services in general. So again for today you ask your questions this way. You scan the QR code or you send us an email. So do you uh doublech checkcking here how it's going?
You guys are waking up. This is very good. Um but we can also um Yes. So we have a few questions coming in. So maybe we bring um George back with us and then uh we take a questions here. Yes, you're there with me. Good. Good George. So I'm not answering by myself. I like to have you with me. So there's questions here.
Um are corporate payment allowed to be rooted through pontis? So maybe this is something uh you can enlighten us on George please.
>> Yes. No, thank you. Thank you.
[clears throat] My answer will be simple on that. It's uh not uh very different to today's world in targeted services. So you can have a the life cycle of a asset and financial instrument in this case is tokenize. You can program also if you want the corporate action what will happen in pontest is the cash settlement. So the answer is very simple and yes it's a it will be I would say single simple payments in in pontest can I take a also another question on the there is there is a question coming up from the market whether it's possible to settle primary DT bond issuance in pont and what are the prerequisites for the issuer I mean I would not cover the full primary market ecosystem. It's a very complex one. It uses issuer agent, dealer banks and a lot of activities. We are not covering that. We are not so ambitious.
What we'll cover again it's the cash leg of the delivery versus payment of the issuance. There is a process in the issuance where uh basically the issuer or the issue agent deliver the securities and the dealer bank the consortium let's say the investor let's keep it simple will have to pay uh the cash and this cash who will and and the the exchange of the delivery versus cash is s that will orchestrate as DVP in pontest that's the element of the private market we will cover and the added value is that Um this can be settled real time any time. But of course what is implied in the question is that a lot of orchestration activities has to take place on the DT market DT platform itself to orchestrate uh the steps around issuance. It will not happen in Pontis Elen. Um >> thank you George. This was great.
>> Can I try Can I try another one? I see another one.
>> You can try another one. Thank you for that. There is a very interesting question coming from the CCPs I assume and the question is whether um the ECB or the Euro system would allow the power of attorney for CCPs without limits to instruct. that in this the typical CCP uh business model where this for some of the participants there is agreement and power of attorney uh instruction takes place in T2S today for example um the the answer to that is that as as of the go live in September there will be a functionality which it's called I think in the system documentation uh instruct on behalf It's managed by the on boarding national central bank. So please and that's one of the key messages of the day in I think please be in touch with your national central bank to clarify um let's say the the access rights and the the limits potentially uh applicable but indeed when we look at the enhancements and the evolution for the pontest uh so-called enhanced product in 2028 we are looking at we're going towards full integration with the target services and I I don't want to describe now the change request and the user requirements in 28 but uh the idea is to move really closer to what happens today in T2S again that will be something to be engaged in the API market contact group and I would really invite interested parties to speak to your national central bank >> thank you George very good and also we will continue to do these focus sessions right George so even you know we're not going to present everything today because that would be a little bit over the top. So we focus on on pontis today and then more will come in the future.
So I will let you um take a short break George and then uh we can uh compile further questions for you uh uh along the way and then I want to move on in the program because uh as George already mentioned the the next presentation will be on user testing and the onboarding and I'm really happy to have uh VTOS with us today. So we can bring in VTOS and uh he will take over here and uh take all the the technical topics on the testing ahead of us all. So Vtos over to you.
>> Yes indeed. Hi good morning everyone.
I'm very happy to see that that many people are interested in the pontis go live especially so during the holiday period. Uh my name is Fus and I'm collaborating with great colleagues across Euro system on the testing onboarding for pontis um so that we can ensure a seamless go live uh despite the really ambitious timeline I must admit.
um starting over with the content. So I think we can move to the timeline and many of you that had joined our earlier focus session in February 2026 might already know the high level content of the slides but we try to further detail essential steps and milestones um that are relevant for you to be able to participate in go live. Um the following slides then also later on will go more into detail on the substance that is actually shown here. So please if you have questions um about any of this kindly ask you to be patient until after I finish the presentation most likely and then also if you have still questions afterwards um I'm happy to provide additional answers obviously um it is also important to highlight here that the dates that you can see here on the slides uh and also the phases I mean besides the fact that the user testing phase will start as of early August are not necessarily applicable or relevant for you if you don't plan to go live or participate in go have on the 21st of um September. Um but still I think it's it's important to to highlight this here. So just to quickly recap um where we are right now. I mean we are on the 22nd of July obviously. Um so as you can see um the euros system testing is um ongoing and progressing well. Um and this is the testing phase where your system um is checking the software quality and tested and also see if it's um meeting the um requirements that are specified. Um prior to this we also had the internal acceptance testing. So you saw that on the slides in in February but I removed it now where the 4CB which act as a service provider for your system were also ensuring that the quality is sufficiently well. Um as of early July um the central bank testing so the CBT phase um started during which the system NCBS um are checking the software for its quality um and also seeing integration on their side and this is also um that the phase that is used by the NCBS to get um certified for the go live. So also the central banks need to pass several certification test cases and I we go more into detail on this later on to be allowed to migrate to production. Um parallel to the start testing the central bank testing phase um we have also opened the application to market actors for their connectiv connectivity testing. So also as of early July this has started and they are currently preparing to start with um the user testing phase um planned for early August.
So going um to the actual dates that are relevant for market actors I think that want to join in Q3 um 26 so on the 21st of September.
um whomever I think wants to participate in the go live is already um working I assume on the connectivity and has already submitted um a registration form for the utest environment for to the national service desk. So I mean this is no news for you. Um but you will need to resubmit the registration form to register actually for the production environment. And here we have indicated on this slide um the 7th of August as a deadline to have a guarantee that the new certificates that you will require for the connection to production are being um issued by August 14th. Um again this is just to be have that guarantee.
So you can also um submit the registration form um in the the following week. But if you want to have a guarantee that you can start with um connectivity test to the production environment, please um submit your registration form for production by the 7th of August. This would then enable you to start with um the connectivity testing to the production environment um as of the 14th of August. And um again as said this is the indicative deadline also in general to submit your registration form for production to be um in a position to go live um on the 21st of September. Again this does not rule out that you could also um join if you submit your registration form a bit later than that. But I think due to capacity planning, the testing that USD do for connectivity to the brush environment and so on so forth. Um and I think also given our ambitious timeline, I think this is a reasonable date.
Um then what you can also see here is that that connectivity testing phase to the production environment um where we'll also have a new um certification authority which is very technical but I think the the um colleagues and and the participants that that are already um in that process know what I'm referring to um is changing and um we have that connectivity phase from the 14th to the 28th of August for the production environment. Then as of the 11th of September, you will need to have submitted at the latest um the testing evidence to your national service desk.
Um so you will need to pass depending on the the type of market actor that you are um several participation test cases and you will need to provide evidence to that to your national service desk. And here as as George also said before, I think the most important part of all of our presentations today is please be in um contact with your national service desk is that you um yeah are in a position to to provide the evidence for this.
Then after they go live um in late September we will have a stabilization phase um of two weeks um and there we will make sure that um the system is is working as expected and afterwards um you will be able to to join again to production.
Good. And with that high level overview and some additional details I will now go even further into details um on the user testing phase. So I think we can move to the next slide.
So just to recap also what is the user testing phase about? Um it is I mean obviously conducted in the pont users environment. So a dedicated testing environment that is open for for market actors as well as for central banks. um it should enable the market participants and the market DD operators to test the functionality um of the ponus application and thereby also validating in the application to application manner the integration between pontis and and your systems. Um it also serves as an environment for you to complete the monetary certification test cases. Um and again you will receive further details on this later on that are required um to be allowed to migrate to production environments and in general it also serves um for you to be in a position to get familiar with the ponus application.
Um for support and registration I'm repeating myself but um please get in touch with your national service desk um and they will be your first point of contact and will support you in the process. Moving to the next slide um for the start of user testing that I mentioned earlier as well. So this is planned to start beginning of August um following the approval of the market infrastructure board um until the official start of the user testing phase. So basically um in the current period that has started as of um July I mean market participants can already test connectivity but um the support provided by the national central banks uh and for forc focus solely on the connectivity related matters and as of the official start of the user testing phase also please um feel free to to raise any incidents um [sighs and gasps] then um in relation to the entriteria and I don't want to bore you here but you can find um all the entry criteria relevant for the start of the user testing phase in the pontis pilot testing strategy which is a document that is um published on the EP website um under the pontis for professional use page um I think what is relevant here also to mention is I mean the participants need to have completed for uh the registration for the user testing phase I think which is very obvious um you need to be in a position or you need to have successfully um conducted the connectivity test to the test environments um Your national central bank needs to have confirmed that it is ready um to support you in your user testing and also um it must have have confirmed um that the reference data setup which you will have provided with the registration form to your um national service desk is um correctly set up.
Moving to the next slides. Um a document which I think is very important um and also again published on the website is the testing terms of reference. So contrary to what we have in the other target services for instance um where the CBT phase and the EIT phase are um happening or conducted in a dedicated test environment um which is only accessible within the Euro system. We are now having three test phases. So the user system acceptance testing, the cybank testing and the user testing conducted in one single share environment and the testing terms of reference um details basically the testing activities, the entry and exit criteria but also the roles and responsibilities um of the different testing actors and you will also find further information um on the environment schedule um while I think here it's important to highlight also that um now in as of the um early July and the start of the central bank testing phase. Um the point usage environment is actually operating in live timing mode. So again this is very technical but um please have a look in the testing terms reference for further information um from Mondays to Thursdays. Again we have live timing um excluding only Fridays because um this is the day where you usually have deployments taking place and also August 13th is um exempt from from that.
Moving to the next slide. So um again we are sharing one environment um but I think um communication and reporting is general very important um during the testing phase. uh and for this the pontis operator so the 4CB will provide on a daily basis information about what is the status of the pontis usage environment um and also indicating there if there are any issues and also we have actually a node specific monitoring in place and the national service desk are also distributing that information to development market actors um if there's any any issue um on top of that also the national service desk will receive on a weekly basis a list of open defects incidents also with their proposed um deployment date for the fixes and also this list will be shared um with the market actors participating in user testing.
Um in parallel to this we are also um already working obviously um on on resolving any issues. Um but in case there are any restrictions as of the start of the user testing phase um also the national service desk will um promptly notify um you if you're participating in the user testing phase and also provide workarounds if necessary and then I mean this is very obvious for anybody that has tested software but obviously um if you um find any bugs or unexpected behavior as of the the start of the user testing phase um please open an incident with the service desk um and also in line with the process that is described in the terms of reference.
Moving to the next slide and now we're getting into the onboarding and I think we can also move one slide further. So what um we are trying to provide here is actually a high level onboarding checklist. So just the necessary steps in a more or less logical sequence um of what we deem to be important um to be in a position to onboard to pronters. So um the first item I think also is obvious but um I wanted to highlight this again.
So we have a service description document and a user handbook. Um and both documents I think are very important and um you should read them.
Um if you are a market participant um and you are looking for a market EOT operator and I think also this is a question that that we've heard repeatedly um please contact your national service desk we are currently working on getting a list um of market year operators that are open for business let's put it this way um in in Pontis and then also to further distributors within the ecosystem if you want to register so if you want to yeah if you require a registration form also So please contact your national service desk who are um happy to help you wi with that. Um then once you have that pontis registration form um you will need to fill it out obviously. So I'm referring to the the reference data and static data. Um you will need to create cryptographic um keys. Um also you will find further information on that in the service description document and in dedicated training material that was already prepared and I think distributed. Um and you will also need to generate a certificate signing request and submit it to your NSD. So also this is very technical but you have further information uh for the ones that are interested in the service description documents. Um then you will need to establish um a connectivity to the point of environment. Um for this um we also have um further information in the service description documents. You will need to per conduct the mandatory certification test cases in users environments. Um then once you've done that or also in parallel you can already submit um the registration form for production to your national service desk um once you have the certificates you can establish the connectivity to the production environment and then at the end you just need to provide evidence of having passed the mandatory certification test cases to your national service desk um to be allowed to move to production. And moving to next slide um just a bit more details and um I don't know for the sake of time if I need to go through for through all of the steps again but I I want to quickly summarize this. So the service description document is basically um for the ones that know the target services like the UDFS so the user detailed functional specifications and it describes the functionality and the key flows that are provided by the point application. You also find further information on the connectivity um and on how to generate the certificate signing request and so on so forth. And that's um service description document is furthermore um complemented by the um open API and I think that's the first for your system. Um it's a swagger file basically that provides specification of the um application programming interfaces and the endpoints that are available and also this is um published on the EV website.
Then we have the user handbook and this is entirely similar to the target services. So this is a document that describes the full range of functionalities that are available in the userto application mode. So um all the screens that are relevant in uh the graphy user interface of the pontis application.
Um here um also I'm repeating myself but um we really ask you to work in partnership with your national service desk. Um important elements here for the registration form are for instance the uh um IP address whitisting. So we are working with flight testing uh for pontis uh and also for the uh um key generation and the certificate signing request we offer you two ways basically there's a web-based tool um and URL will be provided by the national service desk so you don't need to install any additional applications locally but you can actually use a web-based tool and also this is completely secure because the keys that are being generated are just generated on your local machine so the server on our side will not see um the keys whatsoever. Or you can use um tools such as open SSL or other open source tools to um generate the keeper locally and also to generate the certificate signing request locally.
Moving to the next slides. So once um you actually indicated that you're interested in participating in the testing um the first step would be that you establish connectivity to the UTS environment and I've provided you here here with um the links for that and we actually have two dedicated endpoints.
So we have one endpoint uh that is um there to to check um that you have a pointto-point connectivity. So basically it just shows that the application uh knows about your IP address and it has been whitelisted um correctly. Um so again IP address and the whitelisting is part of the registration process and you will provide it in the registration form to your national service desk and then we have a dedicated endpoint and a dedicated URL for this which is for the MTLS handshake. So the mutual transport layer security and this is a step that you can perform once you have received the signed certificates by the 4CB service desk and um if you have a green um check on this. So basically if you have successfully um reached that end points it shows that you have a secure and trusted communication with the application.
Um then on top of that also for the authentication purposes. So once you have um successfully conducted um the two above um connectivity tests you can actually um authenticate with your user and confirm full connectivity either in the U2A or in the A2A mode. So for the U2A mode um what is important to highlight here is basically that we have a dedicated URL per node. So basically referencing the uh the NCB um that is responsible for you and you will find the dedicated node names that are then to be inserted here in this URL um in the swagger file that is so the open API specification that is published on this website and what is really important here and again this is very technical but we've seen um that this is an issue sometimes is that basically the application is mapping information in the certificate signing request with the information how you have set it up in the registration form and also how you have set it up in the identity and access management um component of the pon application again further information details are available on this but I wanted to highlight this here again and then yes moving to the next slide so actually on certification testing and the conceptual logic here because I think we have received um quite some questions on this so um we have um defined um several um test cases um that need to be passed before you are allowed to move to production and um which test cases you need to pass depends first of all on the type of market actor that you are so either a market participant or a market operator and then it also depends on the settlement method you use. So as you know we can either settle in cash tokens um or in directly in D2Rgs and then it might also depend or it will also depend on the use case. So either wholesale payments or what we call the XVP. So um for the ones from P2S this is um either delivery versus payments or payment versus payment functionality. And then based on these criteria there's a set of mandator um certification test cases um that is published on the E3 website. We actually also in the process of updating this again but I think um it can already serve as a high level indication for what we have and um please always um go back to this uh be in close contact with your national service desk to to get information if there's any update on this.
Very good. Moving to the next slide. Um so preparations for production and and going live again as I mentioned already on the first slide I think. Um for production you need to fill out again a registration form. Um you need uh to share a certificate signing request um for production. My latest understanding here is that actually you can reuse the ones that uh you have also used for the usage environment. So there's no need to regenerate them. Um this is still pending a bit uh confirmation by technic experts but this is the latest information that I have. And then um you need to provide um evidence again at the latest by 11th of September um to your national service desk um that you have successfully passed the mandatory certification test cases.
Um and then also here something that I said earlier um but I want to repeat this. So once you have received your signed certificates for the production environment please retest connectivity.
So the the same endpoints that um I had inserted URLs here for the UT test environment just um changed URL remove um the utest in the beginning and retest connectivity and make sure that this also works again that confirms that um the service provider has received um your registration form the IP wide listing is implemented and also that the MLS works as as expected and then you can actually go live and we would be very happy to welcome you there And um with this I would actually close my presentation. I think that was a lot of information in a very condensed manner.
Um I've seen that there's a lot of questions already but um first back to you Alen.
>> Thank you Vus. Uh exactly great lots of information there. Uh we have a number of questions coming in. Some of them you have uh you have covered already. I will just give you a few seconds to breathe here and and look at the some of the questions coming in. For the ones who have not already done so, you can again file your questions via the the QR code.
But vetos refer to a lot of documents that you can find on the ECB website. So I'm just going to show this to you. Uh again, your most important tab on the ECB website is payments and financial stability. That's on the top bar. You click on this and you come to this page again with the quick links that we love.
We love the quick links. We have the target professional use uh documents and links uh two places because it's that important. You have it under the quick links and you have it under the target services. When you click on the target services professional use, you come to this page. H and this page is the entry point to all information technical information on our services. Today you're joining the session on pontis. So I'm sure you're interested in the pontis documents and links. So you will click on this one and that's going to take you to this page. On this page is exactly what mus was referring to. this page you will find everything you need to be able to do your tests or any other technical documents that uh you need uh to to conduct your user testing. So that's a super important page to remember and use. So I just wanted to highlight that for everybody. Um [snorts] and then again keep uh shooting your questions. you are you are very awake now I [laughter] must say and we have a lot of questions in coming in um we have some overall uh questions about the higher level of of testing so maybe I just want to bring uh Andre back in if we still have Andre with us. Yes we do.
Excellent. Andre so we have a few questions maybe more on sort of the overall uh approach to testing. So, you know, give a give us a few words on that please.
>> Yeah, super. Thanks, Alen. And first of all, Vito, thanks a lot for this for this presentation. I think that was very important and helpful. Um, I indeed would like to provide a little bit of a of of a framing of the current situation. I mean first of all we are very much looking forward and working very hard to to enable the user testing as of beginning of August because we believe this is absolute fundamental part of of this journey and this is the the ultimate step that we need to make sure that the software is working as expected. Having said this is a this is a new service um and therefore we are running also additional test phases with our partners in the the national banks and and and ask participants in parallel meaning we know and we are aware that there are still remaining um issues within the software uh that we are working on and you might be in a situation when you start the user testing that you will observe some of these shortcomings. So that's that's absolutely what we have uh in our mind but still we believe it is so important to also get your feedback that we definitely want to um enable this testing phase for the users now in parallel. Overall the situation will be very closely monitored also by the uh market infrastructure board. It's it's a board uh that consists of of members of the national banks and the European Central Bank. And here we are basically taking the the decisions whether um additional releases are required and when we can ultimately then also give the go and no go um for for go live. Um and I think there were also a few questions related to um the onboarding by itself. Uh please keep in mind um of course you're welcome to kind of register now um but there is a continuous momentum for for getting onboarded. So also beyond of the the go live you can always um um uh provide your application and then um we will we will make sure that you that you get onboarded as as fast as possible. Um and for the actual go go go live um we are also uh planning um very detailed uh mechanisms to support you um and to guide you through the initial use cases so that we make sure that the experience as is as uh will be as expected um from from day one. I think this is a bit of a of a framing of the overall situation, but I see that there are now also a lot of more um detailed questions on the various aspects and for that I'm happy to give it back to to my colleagues VTOS and Cole.
>> Thank you Andre. Exactly. I think that was good just to frame it a bit and then I want to bring that Vita. So you're back here. there's a number of I think you have you have mentioned them but but let's let's highlight again so yeah go ahead >> so I mean thank you Andre for for um summarizing this um again so um I think one of the question was um on the ambitious timeline I mean um I think we are very very aware of this and we we know that um it is summer period and so on so forth so obviously um you can you can um on board also later um on the question so there one question let me just read it out so there's almost no markd operator available in utest um so how to perform the dp test cases um I think first of all as I mentioned we are currently working on on getting actually the the consent of the market d operators to um um further distribute information on who is um in in utest and who not um so also to to make sure that um any market participant that would like to perform tests um does have a market operator um But also again what what I want to to highlight here and this is um something that that I that I also covered I think during the presentation is actually you only need to pass the mandatory DVP test cases if you perform the DVP then also in production. So your national central bank has the possibility to grant you an exemption and if you do not intend to make use of the DVP um in production which I think is likely if you don't have a marker DG operator yet then you would also need to pass that test case.
Um I would also try to to cover another question um in relation to the certificates um that have been generated for the UT test environments and and also there um he I I think I I covered this in the presentation but let me just quickly repeat this. Um so for technical reasons because the certification authority is changing from the US environment to the production environment also the certificates need to be regenerated.
So I think it is very important that um if you want to go live in production then you also request certificates for the test environment and this actually has security considerations. So we don't want to be in a position that whoever might have access in new test can also um just make use of this certificate um for production. So I think it was a was a good consideration.
And then um we also had one question on the number of mandatory test cases. Um so I think this is very much related to the earlier question that that um indicated that there was an issue in finding market d operators and also here um it is very important that you first understand what is your action in business and use case that you will um make use of um in in production and once you have understood this um also you can discuss with your national service desk um whether you can um receive an exemption or whether you actually need a testing partner um for instance for the DP test cases. Um but here it is only mandatory if you also perform DP then in production and you can only perform this I think in a meaningful manner if you have a market d operator. So um forever for whomever that would be mandatory we we assume that there should also be a market d operator available and I think these are the questions.
>> Thank you answer now. Thanks.
>> Yeah. Excellent. Thanks so much and remember everybody all the slides will be on the website so you can go back and view them. I know there's a lot of information as always in these focus session it is intent so you know buckle up before you join them uh but the material will be posted so thanks a lot vus for clarifying all this again the QR code is here so you can keep shooting questions to us h and then I want to move on with the program because we have our next uh speaker with us um mate who will talk about the operational and legal aspects uh of pontis so I want to see if we can bring in mate We have mate coming in here. So, welcome Mate and over to you.
>> Morning Alen and thank you very much.
And um indeed it's a busy summer and we're getting ready for operations as indicated for September. I would like to present you the work we've been doing with the team in the last year on the operational framework as we would like to call it and give you an update on the legal documentation. So let's jump uh to the next slide further please and indeed it so here you can see the main deliverables or building blocks of the operational framework as we like to call them where the foundation is the operational documentation.
Then we have u communication tools and uh channels for disseminating information internally and externally.
And then the last bit is the operational related tests or or as we would like to call them. So a set of set of predefined tests that we execute with relevant stakeholders to make sure that everyone is ready for the go live and knows how to properly and timely react if there are any operational issues. left. Let's move then two slides for so another one please and let's start with the operation documentation because this is u let's say our uh bread and butter and the core document for the pontas initial launch it's going to be the what we called uh product operational terms of reference or tour. So this is a document that um defines and describes the scope of the operational framework. Then uh defines the roles of the relevant stakeholders.
In this case the service providing central banks, national central banks and the ECB coordination function describes how the business day looks like. So with the key phases of the business day and what you can expect during the normal date. Um and then we move into um the procedures that we apply in in day-to-day business as we like to call them normal and abnormal situations. So day-to-day business and incident crisis management and business continuity.
It's important to highlight that the tour. So the terms of reference it's uh not a public document. It's available only to the central banks but nevertheless we made an extract of the document with the relevant chapters for the market participants and those that are active in the target work will be familiar with the concept of an info guide. So we uh publish on the ECB web page and Alen already mentioned several times the ECB web page for professional users where you can find this document and the document actually has an extract of the relevant chapters from the tour that will help you with your day-to-day operations. here. Maybe it's also worth mentioning that um the info guide of course it's public but this does not preclude that if you reach out to your national central banks your central banks prepare additional operational documentation or use the info guide to build their own um stack of uh operational documentation. So please get in touch with them and see what they have in planned for you.
If we then move to the next slide and this is actually the timeline for the two documents. We started preparing the tour already one year ago last summer and went through several iterations review cycles with central banks. We managed to finalize it at the end of May. Then it went to the our market infrastructure board or MIB for approval in June. And this then help us to stabilize the content for the info guide that was drafted and reviewed in June and said published at the beginning of July. So the exact day date was the 8th of July and you will find in the bottom there also the link directly to the document.
Um we can then move to the next set and these are the communication tools and our slide please. So this is a diagram that you will find uh in the info guide and shows the three main channels that the market participants will use to get access to uh us information. So the day-to-day um information on your left you see the ECB and uh we will provide and I will show you further on how it's going to look like daily status update. So on the ECB web page you would be able to see the status of the system when the system opens in the morning when the system close in the evening and if there are any ongoing production incidents and when these incidents are going to be resolved you will be able to subscribe to these notifications and you will receive real time push email notifications in your inbox.
Then your main counterparty for any kind of inquiries, questions or if you have any technical problems are going to be the your central banks and their national service desk. So if you have any questions always with directly with your central banks. There is one exception that you can see on the right and this is uh in case you would have connectivity problems then you can uh directly uh contact the service providers service providing central banks that will uh troubleshoot with you the technical issues and help you to solve this problem regarding the contact details for the national service desk and the service providing central banks. Please with your uh respective central banks and they will provide you with uh these contact details, email addresses and relevant telephone numbers that you can use in case you have problem.
We can move then to the next slide and this is uh the status update box as we would like to call it.
You can see demo that we prepared. And this is how it's going to look once we go live in September with Pontas. Those that are um in familiar with the target services probably saw this already in the past. And as I said, we will provide daily updates what's going on with the system, live updates, morning message, opening, evening message, when we close, and if there is anything going in between. You are able to subscribe to uh this uh notifications and the colleagues put their the example where you can click uh on a link under the box and you will be able to select the individual services that you're interested to receive updates. In this case, you can subscribe only to Ponttos if you wish or to all the target services and then as said you will provide um predefined email address where we would like to receive these notifications and then every time something happens you receive a push notification directly in your inbox.
we can move then to the next part and these are the oris. So for the or um this is a set of tests that we plan to execute now during the summer. It's something that is going to be keeping us for sure busy and we plan to execute this test with the national central banks and the service providing uh central banks. So it's important to highlight that we don't expect active involvement of market participants here and um also worth mentioning that this is part of our predefined go to go criteria. So we need to make sure that all the stake relevant stakeholders know how to properly and timely react and we need to make sure that this test executed successfully.
Let's then uh maybe move to the legal aspects and just give you an update where we stand with the legal documentation. This is normally quite hot topic and there are normally a lot of questions. So for the pontest initial launch we need to prepare dedicated legal framework and underlying legal documentation was under drafting the past months. We now reach the final stage of this process. But it's also worth mentioning that the legal documentation why it's the legal documentation important and there are always a lot of uh questions about it.
So the legal documentation on one side will help establish the contractual relationship between the Euro system central banks as you can see in the box above and then through the what we call uh predefined templates for terms and conditions will help the national central banks to prepare their uh contractual relationships with the market participants.
If we move uh to the next slide and um regarding the timeline where we stand.
So um the legal documentation the package is now was submitted to the Euro system your system decision making bodies and we expect this whole package to be approved uh by the end of July beginning of August taking consideration this summer. Important piece of information here are the templates because normally we receive questions when the templates will be ready. The templates are ready and were submitted uh last evening to the central banks.
So I assume that the central banks will approach in the upcoming days to start the work on the terms and conditions. So this is uh I think an important achievement and will help to finalize this important books. So I said uh if you have any questions on uh the legal aspects or the terms and conditions you can directly raise this with your respective central banks and I think with this Alen I'm done with my presentation and we check if there are any questions there were there was maybe one question that I already saw that we exchanged earlier was the question around the list of market DTO operators and business cases because this is the question that we receive quite often and we indeed plan to produce such a list and publish it on the ECB web page. We are currently working on it together with the central bank so that we collect uh the names of the DT operators and their business cases.
When we compile this, we will publish it the ECB web page and share it with the market counter group and >> thank you.
>> Thank you mate. No, very good point and this was indeed asked a few times. So good to clarify that and that's of course why you should all join our uh social media channel, our LinkedIn page, the newsletter because you will receive immediate updates when such a list is available. So uh that's just a a a quick advertisement for that but again scan your questions in. I'm just going to give mate 30 seconds because there are a number of questions coming in on the operational aspects and then I just wanted to uh briefly show you again what mate was saying uh because you might now go to the web page your favorite place payments financial stability again and on this page you can if you click here you will see the target services and if you click on the target services you actually come to the to exactly the page that mate was referring to operational status of the target services. And this is the page uh where the pontest uh box will be added. Of course, it's not added yet because the system isn't live, but it will be added here uh when the system goes live. So that's uh that's the place uh you know to stay uh updated on on the status of the operational status. So that's just for everyone to know. Also remember to save payments financial stability as your favorite here on the ECB website and uh you can get to anything you want in the future. So let's uh go back. So questions. So this is uh we are rounding up uh the pontest part of this focus session. Um but let me see. So there's a few questions coming. I think mate has been good and answered most of them already. Uh but maybe we bring him back because there is a question mate on um performance expectation limits volumes transactions and punches. Do you want to say a few words on that?
>> Yes indeed and this is a question that we discussed in the with the market participants in the past. You will find the um let's say the let's call them KPIs regarding system performance in the info guide in the relevant section and uh on the volume values um limits we indeed discussed this in the past there are for the pontis initial launch some um initial limits on the volume and value in order to on the volume in order to properly size the system on the value in order to make sure that not too much liquidity it's trapped in the system in case there would be any issues which would have a potential spill or systemic impact on target and also these figures are defined in the info guide. Um it's important to highlight that these limits are soft limits. So they're not hardly enforced if our participants would uh go beyond them is this is just then help us to better understand uh maybe the future evolution of the business and the need to upgrade the system in the near future. I think there was another question. Let me just um quickly on the operational test if we give a bit more background on this. Um sure. Um so I said that the operational test will be executed with the central banks and the service providers u central banks. So what we call the force will be in upcoming months. The focus um we have three types of tests here that we are testing. One it's pure communication tools make sure that all the settlement crisis managers are reachable in case we have any incidents issues. Then we have uh the service providing central banks will test all the business continuity uh procedures and tests. So different types of failovers in case there are technical issues with the nodes. And then we have individual scenarios that could go from an insolveny of a participant to a delay closure to potentially scenarios where liquidity of tokens will remain on the wallets overnight due to technical issues with defunding. So these are let's say our day-to-day uh business cases that we need to test and make sure that we are ready for September.
>> All right. Excellent. Uh thank you mate.
I think that sort of rounds it up for um the operational aspect.
I think we've covered most of the other questions already. Maybe um there was one question on non-banks. We just clarify that non-banks PSPs they can already as many of you know of course participate in uh the target services as of October last year and they are also then eligible then to participate in uh pontis as market participants. Again speak to your local central bank on this. Um so thanks for everyone uh here.
So we are rounding up a little bit on the on the pontis part. Um but as Andre said at the beginning pantapia is a single program. So what we will do now is move um to an update on the on the AIA side of the of the of the puzzle. So uh with that uh I want to bring in our next speakers. So to cover the last bit uh on where we stand on the AIA program I have uh two speakers with me. Uh Hular I believe will speak first and then Andre will or sorry Paul will will take over. So Hulgo first uh over to you latest on the APIA.
>> Yes [clears throat] on the on our late on the on the latest news there. So you are aware that in our common program um and as you can see on the next slide also the API initiative is the cornerstone of the ecosystem strategy to provide central bank money with innovative tokenized wholesale financial markets that leverage technologies as for example distributed ledger technology.
As regards our road map, our work is logically structured in building blocks.
So which will be developed in particular via analytical and practical work and also standardization. The work on the building blocks uh that you can see here will inform the eurosystem and market stakeholders about the feasibility of implementation options.
To recall the six building blocks are asset interoperability and standards.
It's monetary policy and collateral management on DT.
It's the European tokenized central bank money infrastructure or structures for which tokenized central bank money will be provided in Europe. And it's about the international dimensional and uh and crossborder links. In a few minutes, Paul will provide more details on these four four building blocks.
The remaining two are actually uh is number five is about analysis to ensure that the new ecosystem is innovative, safe and resilient new ecosystem.
The building block six is about the implementation strategy and impact on existing infrastructures which is something on which we will of course come back later when establishing the blueprint and the the implementation uh strategy is more timely then.
So on the next slide you actually I mean see then on the consultation uh that we have had where we had a high and a diverse participation.
So we had actually uh in a 20 question survey solicited feedback on the API road map uh and proposals to contribute to API which is part of our program on the tokenization.
The submission period was from 11 March to 22nd of April. And in that time we got uh 127 submissions uh from stakeholders uh across sectors and geographies of whom 116 expressed an interest to contribute. So this compares pretty much to for example uh the target opening hours consultation.
on the next slide some more details on this on this uh consultation.
The feedback is is that actually there's a broad alignment with the euro system seeking to leverage TNT and to achieve its objectives. Those objectives include ensuring the effectiveness of monetary policy and financial stability and maintaining uh central bank money as the anchor of a two-tier system monetary system for the smooth functioning of payment systems. It's about fostering a more integrated competitive and innovative payments and securities ecosystem through efficient infrastructures for financial markets.
supporting the strategic autonomy and increased resilience and ensuring the relevance of the euro as an international currency through an active market for payments and securities.
Then uh you see that actually the market also appreciated actually and confirmed that the approach of a public private partnership.
It welcomes a diverse stakehold that the diverse stakeholders in are involved and uh and they also supported that actually there's a structured engagement and innovation.
Market participants also appreciated the evidence-based approach that we are proposing.
The market then highlighted uh that central bank services on DNT as a foundation are important and in particular tokenized central bank money and collateral mobilization of DT native uh assets are seen as a priority by the market.
As regards um as regards question whether central bank money settlement will be possible on a single network on a multitude of network market particants flag the usefulness to analyze further the trade-offs between these options and highlighted that in their view interoperability will in any case be an essential feature.
This goes hand inhand with the next point that there is a broad support for standardization um and also for clear governance.
The market also recommended that in their view the options for for any implementation and for further development should be narrowed down over time toward a defined target design.
Then Paul will go as said I mean um over the building blocks.
>> Yes, good morning everyone. Uh so indeed Hol presented the the the in broadstrokes the feedback that we have received in consultation. What I would like to do now is to walk you through some of the initial scoping of activities to progress API that uh that we've identified uh building on this uh specifically on this feedback. So we've just seen that uh in the in the consultation on the IP road map standardization was underlined as a key enabler of an integrated tokenized ecosystem going hand inhand also with the importance of uh having inter interoperability efficiently implemented.
This corresponds uh uh in our RP road map to the first building block we had set out that you see here on the screen.
uh and we have we have progressed on some initial uh ideas and activities on how to uh how to go about uh uh developing this. The objective uh is to come up uh at the level of the of the overall industry with a European framework that would enable tokenized financial services to seamlessly interact across infrastructures, providers and jurisdictions. Uh interacting end to end across the value chain and the life cycle of assets.
we've just seen before in the in the the pontest uh use cases that all of these aspects were were were uh core functions that were explored uh with tokenization.
So in line with the feedback uh received in the consultation we have identified uh different layers of standards that would be needed to achieve this objective and that need to be considered not only from a technical perspective but also from a legal and operational perspective.
The first set of standards relates to asset representation, transactions. This includes thinking of identifiers, uh, metadata, taxonomies.
The idea here is to make sure that assets and their representation remain consist consistently usable and interpretable across infrastructures and providers.
A second category of standards that will also be needed to achieve this objective includes standards at the level of the distributed ledger infrastructures that underper underpin tokenization. Uh so this includes uh considering topics such as uh uh consensus mechanisms, resiliency, security and how this is ensured uh in these new distributed infrastructures.
The third one uh the third category of standards uh to achieve this objective uh focuses more on the policy and the legal foundations of tokenized financial markets. This is where uh uh the standards will need to look into the legal legal recognition of tokenized assets, how ownership rights are represented, how settlement finality is ensured, liability structures and supervisory mandates.
The approach uh will be to progress on all of these three layers of standards.
Um building first and foremost on the existing frameworks and initiatives that are there in the market uh that where several several uh organizations and several se um several initiatives have already proposed uh some standards. Uh the idea will be to build on that and the existing breath of expertise in the market.
To do so, the euro system will want to engage so with the market and all relevant stakeholders across Europe to foster these standards, bringing the industry together uh to progress on all these different layers. We are uh we are now uh currently doing preparatory work to set up this engagement. Uh this will start uh in 2026 after the summer.
If we go to the next slide here, uh you will see uh another clear priority that was underlined in the consultation on the API road map relates to central banking on DT and in the DT ecosystem, how this would be implemented.
In particular, the feedback covered how tokenized central bank money could be provided uh on different types of networks in the future and how n collateral mobilization of native DT assets uh could be could be operationalized directly on uh DT platforms. So this corresponds to API building blocks two and three that we had presented in our road map on tokenized central bank money. Of course, Pontest is a is a is a first step. What we will want to explore in APIA now are different approaches and complimentary features that will enable tokenized central bank money to be provided including uh for instance on on shared networks. We will set up initial experimentation with a focus on governance. So exploring how to translate the necessary governance requirements for central banks to uh to maintain control over issuance, redemption and management of c of tokenized central bank money. um leveraging also the capabilities of the of the technology. I think this was one question that we also received during this session. Uh so this will be typically the type of of uh uh of the benefits of the technology that we will want to explore uh under API in a in a more forward-looking way complementing what is already being uh implemented in production with Pontis on the collateral side. So you you of course know that your system already accepts tokenized asset as collateral uh through the mobilization process in existing infrastructure in existing infrastructures. A first mobilization uh under this approach already took place here building on the feedback we've received in APIA we will also we will also explore different and complimentary approaches including uh that would enable the mobilization of assets directly on the LT uh for your stream credit operations. We will also consider as part of that what functionalities of our current system ECMS can be leveraged to facilitate this. So this will be uh this will be another topic that we will explore in uh in experimentations that have already started now uh with results expected al in 2027.
Taking both of the these aspects together the tokenized central bank money and the tokenized collateral. So uh the starting point for us will be these experimentations on what we call foundational aspects of central banking on DT. We will explore here uh under API different governance models and different network configurations. This includes also the single versus uh multiple network approaches that was highlighted as an an important trade-off to explore in the consultation. This will be included in these uh experimentations.
In parallel to the experimentations, we will also uh assess in the system what type of policy framework could be needed in the future to provide our services uh on shared networks. This includes for the collateral mobilization side uh assessing possible updates to our eligibility framework to consider new types of platforms uh that could be that could become eligible beyond the existing ones. And on the central bank money side, this will uh this will follow uh the the importance of translating our governance and control requirements in the context of shared networks.
We will uh we will progress with these experimentations and we will share learnings and the results with the market through our stakeholder engagement strategy. I will come back to that in a few slides uh to to gather feedback uh to gather feedback on this if to then we move to the next slide.
So a a last building block where we have already scoped some activities uh relates to APIA building block 4 uh the international dimension and crossporter links uh where of course as Holular recalled it's important to consider uh from the from the start how a European tokenized ecosystem would be connected internationally um this requires in particular considering how a two-tier monetary system including central bank money and private settlement assets can interact.
Uh the two types of assets here, private settlement assets and central bank money are complimementaryary for for a well functioning payment ecosystem and we will want to explore this domestically and internationally.
on this specific aspect. One promising approach uh uh to explore is project Agora uh to which the Euro system participates and several European market stakeholders also actively participate because this project explores specifically uh specifically what I've mentioned uh the implementation of a two-tier monetary system uh on on on DT.
This includes exploring how tokenized deposits and tokenized central bank money can be interlin to deliver end-to-end programmable settlement of crossber transactions on the specific project Agorat which we participate first prototype was completed earlier this year. Uh and real value transactions are planned to further test the capabilities of the prototype in realistic settings. So we will want to to explore this this approach and more widely how to implement this two-tier monetary system on DT. One aspect of course is is to explore uh through experimentations and prototypes. Another one is to look at the legal and the policy implications of that which we will also want uh to go into. So this includes considering how fungibility between private settlement asset and central bank money is operationally insured under which responsibility. So this will include analyzing questions like responsibilities for clearing uh for clearing different private settlement assets in central bank money.
If we move to the to the next slide to to summarize these were initial activities initial activities uh that that we that we have scoped in line with the feedback we've received. So we've already incorporated some of the takeaways uh from from the consultation on the API road map. uh the the the the first next step will be to come back after summer with the the publication of the full results of this consultation.
Uh this will be later this year and we will also come back uh with a with additional activities, analytical work, practical work and experimentations uh including involving market stakeholders.
We will come back to that later this year. Uh so this was uh uh this was an initial scoping that we present today but we will come back uh come back with with more information as was already mentioned by uh by by George we will also be setting up the APIA contact group in September and we'll announce the composition soon.
This group will be leveraged to continue the market engagement across the overall program for both Pontes and APIA and this will include gathering ideas and uh and market feedback uh and specifically in the case of AIA to also implement practice this joint collaborative approach that we've already uh set out in the in the road map and where Holar recalled that the public private partnership is essential to the success of the project on standardizations as I've mentioned there will be a dedicated ated engagement uh that will begin later this year after the summer and we will also continue to have uh regularly these focus sessions to keep you updated uh and engage with you as we progress uh as we progress the the project. So with this I will hand it back uh over to you Ellen.
>> Thank you Paul. Uh super nice with the overview on the AIA project as well here. Um if we keep uh Paul uh on there is uh one question maybe that we have received on the pontis appia uh it's about um so let me read because you didn't have time to read um do the pontas and appia work streams uh look into programmability aspects of the wholesale central bank money can you talk a little bit about that please >> yes Happy happy to happy to do so. Uh so indeed we are looking more generally into how the technology can be leveraged to implement the financial services we know today. It's uh so this includes as I said on our side translating the activities we do with central banking uh in uh on DT. This includes then looking into indeed features like programmability uh like management of different smart contracts that we could use as central banks to imp to uh manage central bank money also to mobilize asset as collateral. That's one aspect.
Uh and we're also be keen to uh to look more broadly into how this can be uh used across the value chain. Uh this includes uh also by the markets for their own services. And the key focus uh will then be to understand what are the design requirements so that central bank services and market services can seamlessly interact uh can seamlessly interact on these new types of infrastructures. Uh we've already presented here one example from project Agora of how this can be done with in the context of tokenized deposits and central bank money. But we will also want to look into that more broadly for uh for overall market services. So including for securities uh uh for for clearing and all all other ranges of services.
>> Super. Thank you so much Paul. Um we have Hulga here too. Um is there anything else that we need to clarify on the AIA workstream before I let you guys take a rest? [snorts] No, I think that's it. But the you know the colleagues have their last few chances to uh submit their their questions. And uh while they do that um let me just uh quickly invite all the participants to do a little bit for us.
So now we have been doing something for you. So now we would love to get your quick feedback. So if you would just uh scan this QR code and it's just like multiple choice super simple two minutes to complete. uh fill in give us the feedback because that will help us improve the sessions. We do these sessions for you. So we really want to do them the way that are best for you.
So if you could just give us this feedback while you consider if you have any more questions that you want to clarify before the summer holiday really kicks in. Then at the same time just give us that feedback. It's really valuable to us. Uh so you know so let us know what you think. Let us know what you think about this session. Um and then you know we will be coming back with more events uh after the summer. So you know give us what you have so we can do them as well as possible.
So we're just going to pause here for 30 seconds and let you do it. Um very good. And then unless we have more questions, I think we've managed to cover most of all the questions asked so far. We want to slowly come to the end of this event. H and for this I have Andrea with me again I believe. So if we move Yes. Super. So Andre that was a lot of information covered in a very short period of time. So it it is a a heavy session and remember everybody it will be on the on the website very shortly.
We will upload the full recording and all the slides so you can revisit and with that I want to give the floor to you Andre. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much Ellen and first of all uh a big thanks to also you your colleagues and and the entire team uh for these updates. I think that have been quite a few presentations with a lot of content and I hope it it has given everyone a clearer picture where the euros system currently stands on both end and of the opportunities you all have to work with alongside us uh in the coming weeks and months. Um I think in the coming weeks you will already be able to use central bank money to settle DT based transactions through Pontis.
Um, as we said, we're working on the testing uh and we want to make sure that the go live uh can happen then in in September. This milestone establish the euro as the first currency area to make this possible. Actually, it will be an achievement that reflects the strength of our collaboration with the market.
But you as you have heard the euro system program on tokenization will not stop there. What lies ahead of us is a genine private public private partnership inviting broad market participants through multiple channels.
The first of this is the RPA contact group which will cover now both Pontis and RPA activities. Its composition is now being finalized and we will hold its first meeting in September. All meeting documents will be published on the ECB website reflecting our commitment for transparency. [sighs and gasps] Alongside this, we will pursue deep dives and workshops. The various forms will also offer opportunities for you to share your ideas, your proof of concepts and your use case proposals in support of both Pontis and RPR. And throughout we aim to maintain regular communication through ECB and national bank channels with clear feedback loops so that this engagement is truly a two-way exchange.
Well, now before these work streams begin after the summer, allow me to wish all of you will have a chance to take some leave a restful summer break. To everyone, I'm really looking forward to continue the collaboration and have a good time. Until then, see you.
Thank you, Andre. Thank you to all the speakers and thanks for everyone for watching us today. Again, uh you have the opportunity to give us the feedback and you have the opportunity to follow us, stay up to date on the latest news that we publish and on future events. So follow us on these channels and uh give us an update. And as Andrea already said, we wish you all a lovely summer break and uh see you again for more in September. Thanks so much and goodbye.
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