The European Central Bank (ECB) Thursday designated four payments systems as being systemically important as part of its effort to ensure the resilience of its financial infrastructure.

The four systems that have been identified under new rules that establish requirements for systemically important infrastructure are TARGET2, EURO1, STEP2-T and CORE(FR). The rules aim to ensure sound governance and efficient management of various risks, including legal, credit, liquidity, operational, general business, custody, and investment risks.

The systems were identified as systemically important according to several criteria, including the value of payments settled, market share, cross-border relevance and the provision of services to other infrastructures. The Eurosystem intends to review the list annually on the basis of updated statistical data.

“This is the first time that the ECB makes use of its regulatory powers in the field of payment systems oversight,” it said, noting that the new rules provide for stricter oversight than previous standards, and may impose sanctions and corrective measures for non compliance.

“With this regulation, Europe is consolidating international practice for the oversight of SIPS into EU law, as with past efforts for other financial market infrastructures, such as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation for the supervision of central counterparties and trade repositories, and the ongoing regulatory initiative for central securities depositories” says Benoît Cœuré, member of the ECB’s executive board.