While these were important accomplishments which resulted in a high level of integration on the cash side, the infrastructure supporting capital markets continued to be highly fragmented. Europe had over 30 different systems for settling securities. The overwhelming number of rules and approaches meant that the whole payments and settlements process remained convoluted and costly. As a result, T2S was developed.
In this situation, it warrants attention that the underlying trend in international fund flows could change if the recent global convergence in income level and current account balance turn to divergence once again.