*  *  *  Mr Chairman, dear members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to be here today to discuss TARGET2-Securities, or T2S – the new securities settlement engine in Europe. The European Parliament has played an essential role in this project and strongly supported it from the beginning.
By their design, derivative instruments segment risks for distribution to those parties most willing to accept them. A key point, however, is that these parties should be able to successfully absorb and diffuse any subsequent loss. The ability to handle any losses on these instruments requires a recognition and understanding of the underlying risks.