In December 2017, 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 20 local systems of the national central banks currently in use. In the case of the Banco de Portugal, the ECMS will replace COLMS (Collateral and Operations Management System).

The ECMS seeks 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 provided through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG).

Migration to the new system will take a “big-bang” approach in April 2024. This means that all interactions with the Banco de Portugal related to collateral and operations management will be carried out using the ECMS from the moment it goes live.

As is currently the case with COLMS, joining the ECMS is an operational requirement for institutions wishing to access the Eurosystem’s open market operations and marginal lending facility.

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

The Banco de Portugal will conduct tests with the Portuguese community before migration to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are ready to migrate to the ECMS.

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

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