It is in acknowledgement of this contribution that those CSDs will be entitled to financial incentives reserved for the early joiners . I am delighted to welcome them to T2S. The CSDs that signed the Framework Agreement today represent about two-thirds of the total settlement volume in the euro area.
In fact, various recent estimates of the natural rate of interest suggest that the current level appears to be much lower than before, giving rise to concerns about a secular decline in the natural rate of interest.