ECB publish latest additions to Blue Books

The European Central Bank (ECB) is today publishing the latest additions to two of its Blue books, ahead of the May 1 EU enlargement.

The June 2001 report, entitled 'Payment and securities settlement systems in the European Union (third edition)', and the August 2002 report, entitled 'Payment and Securities Settlement Systems in the Accession Countries (second edition)', have both been updated.

These publications, also known as the Blue Books, provide a comprehensive description of the main payment and securities clearing and settlement systems in the member states of the European Union (EU) and in the accession countries respectively, covering both the domestic and cross-border aspects of these systems.

While the descriptive parts are updated once every few years, the statistics are updated annually.

The additions being published today incorporate the figures for 2002.

They have been prepared in association with the EU national central banks and with the national central banks of the accession countries.