In December 2017, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) approved the development of a unified system for managing collateral and operations across the euro area: the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS).

The ECMS is scheduled to go live in April 2024 and will replace the 19 local systems of the national central banks currently in use. In the case of Banco de Portugal, the ECMS will replace COLMS (Collateral and Operations Management System).

The aim of developing the ECMS is to achieve greater operational efficiency by harmonising practices and procedures when implementing the Eurosystem legal framework for monetary policy instruments.

As with the other TARGET Services, the ECMS will be accessible through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG).

Migration to the new system will follow a “big-bang” approach and will occur in April 2024. This means that all interaction with Banco de Portugal related to collateral and operations management will be carried out using the ECMS from the migration date onwards. 

As is currently the case with COLMS, joining the ECMS is an operational requirement for institutions that wish to be eligible counterparties for Eurosystem monetary policy operations.

The national community (counterparties and central securities depository) may need to adapt its systems to interact with the ECMS. 

The new system will not alter the relationship between the counterparties and their national central banks. Banco de Portugal will remain the interlocutor of the national community on all matters relating to the implementation of monetary policy. 

For further information on the ECMS, see the ECB website.