Many securities depositories chose to participate because they saw great potential in T2S in terms of cutting settlement costs, fostering competition and generating new business opportunities. But overall, T2S had the potential to bring about a more integrated financial market and thus to benefit all. Second, the governance structure of the project is special as national central banks, securities depositories and market participants formed a partnership with one objective – to launch T2S successfully. It is this unique collaborative effort, mentioned by some of you tonight, that has ensured the success of the T2S project, a project of such size and scale that it has changed the industry completely. Finally, the project is unparalleled in that it has led the industry to impose new rules and procedures on itself. And let’s be honest: this does not happen often. That is why many believe that the post-trade harmonisation agenda is the greatest benefit of T2S. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The launch of T2S is a great achievement. With T2S we have a big story, and I am confident that the story of its development will continue to be a winning one. Of course, there are many types of stories – some rooted in fantasy, some in fiction, and some in reality. The T2S story is a reality, and to symbolise this, a 3D printer is installed in the corridor that you will pass through several times tonight. I invite you to keep an eye on it and see how the T2S logo will materialise.
I want to thank you all for your support, trust and commitment, which has enabled us to reach this first step towards an integrated, more efficient, and harmonised post-trade market in Europe. In particular, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the national communities, namely the national central banks, the securities depositories and their clients, for their involvement and cooperation. Moreover, I would like to thank the 4CB (composed of Banque de France, Deutsche Bundesbank, Banca d’Italia and Banco de España) for developing and now also running the T2S platform. Let me also acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the people at the ECB who coordinated the implementation of the project. In particular, I thank Jean-Michel Godeffroy, who steered the T2S ship through sometimes stormy waters for many years, and Marc Bayle, who brought the ship to a safe harbour on 22 June 2015. And a special thanks to Ms Tumpel-Gugerell, who was the ECB board member in charge during the project’s inception. A popular saying is that “Two heads are better than one”. From the very beginning T2S has managed to unite the efforts of both the private and the public sector. T2S was not initiated by the market, but owing to its post-trade harmonisation agenda it has evolved into a marketdriven initiative which is supported by the public sector. In many ways it has been a unique project. First of all, no one was forced to join the T2S Community.