A hidden benefit of a European Central Bank initiative to improve part of the middle office within eurozone entities could save the banking sector €33 billion from its Basel III capital requirements bill.

Target2-Securities, which aims to create a central, pan-European platform that settles securities in central bank money, could help banks to offset 11% of their estimated €295 billion capital shortfall when capital requirements under Basel III come into play, according to a new study by Clearstream, the post-trade services provider of Deutche Börse Group, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.