Investment banks have long been critical of the expense of processing cross-border trades in Europe. Participants complain that varying market practices and the lack of links between national central securities depositories have made settlement costs up to 10 times higher than those across the Atlantic.

Last week, one initiative aimed at addressing this problem passed a significant milestone. Link Up Markets, a joint venture between eight national CSDs, said its members had started linking to a central infrastructure. Once all eight markets are connected, participants will be able to access them all directly via a single window, greatly simplifying and accelerating cross-border transactions.