Danish market ready for take-off with DKK on T2S

Last week, the market participants confirmed being ready for DKK on T2S. At a meeting with the Danish National Stakeholder Group consisting of decision makers in the Danish market, it was decided to go ahead with the migration. The decision was based on all VP customers and account holders of Danmarks Nationalbank having submitted a number of self-assessments during the test phase and finally a formal readiness statement in October - declaring their readiness for the new settlement day.

With the market being ready, exactly one week from now, DKK will go live on T2S. The migration weekend is the culmination of years of preparation, development and testing following the Danish decision to join T2S. Since the Danish market went live with EUR on T2S in September 2016, the Danish financial community has focused on the implementation of DKK as the first non-EUR currency on T2S.

“The migration weekend has been set out in detail, minute-by-minute. When a string of different parties in an ecosystem move to a new platform involving systems and processes at all parties, this has to be methodically choreographed,” explains Product Manager Kristoffer Kjelsø Sønderlev from VP. “Naturally, the customers play a vital part in the daily settlement, and it is therefore great to see that the market is ready for DKK joining T2S.”

The migration plan describes the detailed cooperation between Danmarks Nationalbank, market participants and VP, and the steps and elements have been tested and rehearsed a great many times.

During the weekend we will reach a number of milestones. On Friday at 23:15, the project will pass the point-of-no-return, and the decision to migrate DKK to T2S will be final. Another important milestone is Saturday at noon, when the first trades in DKK will be settled on the T2S platform. On Monday, 29 October at 18:00, the migration will be completed, and the Danish market will have taken the final step towards harmonised settlement for both EUR and DKK.

“We’re excited about bringing this project safely into harbour. It’s the biggest project in the recent history of VP, and the go-live of DKK on T2S will be a remarkable achievement for the overall Danish financial community,” says Chief Commercial Officer Birger Schmidt from VP. “Denmark took the decision to enter T2S many years ago, and now we are extremely close to take-off for this new and futureproof settlement platform opening up new business opportunities.“