The Bundesbank’s trigger solution: the next step in wholesale settlement

European capital markets agree on the need for settling the cash leg of tokenised securities transactions. Rather than rely on private tokenised money, the European Central Bank is ensuring central bank money stays central to next-generation infrastructure. Its plan includes two phases: a future wholesale central bank digital currency and, as an interim step, a trigger solution enabling synchronised settlement in the existing real-time gross settlement system for delivery-versus-payment transactions.

Alexandra Hachmeister, director general, digital euro at Deutsche Bundesbank, which led a project on this in late 2024, joins OMFIF to explain how the system works and its impact on European capital markets.