Some progress, but not enough: that was the verdict of Charlie McCreevy, EU internal market commissioner, on the state of play in European clearing and settlement. Presenting his thoughts to the economic and monetary affairs committee of the European parliament this month, McCreevy stopped short of proposing legislation to impose greater efficiencies, preferring instead to launch a code of conduct he hopes will "deliver real benefits and which will work with the market changes under way".

The main goals of the code, which initially will only apply to cash equities, are transparency and access. Without mentioning the integrated trading, clearing and settlement models favoured by Germany, Italy and Spain, McCreevy has targeted those vertical silos that own the trading platforms and clearing and settlement systems behind them.