ESAS continued to function and banks were able to invoke contingency arrangements. Nevertheless, there were significant delays to the exchange of payments and to the posting of transactions to customer accounts. There could easily have been a more widespread disruption of retail payments and commerce if there had not been a public holiday that day.
This should also contribute to a further narrowing of national financial markets’ roles and structures, and, on the whole, strengthen European capital markets. II What does this all mean for the issue of guidance for financial markets ? Let me start with a general principle which is widely accepted: regulations should provide a framework that best suits the specific market conditions.