1. Chairman of the STEP Market Committee
Guido Ravoet
Chairman of the STEP Market Committee
Brussels – 4 October 2007
Belgian National Bank

2. STEP is a significant market contribution to the integration of the European financial markets.

3. STEP was set up to answer the four major issues identified for the short term paper market in Europe. These are:
the differences between the various legal systems across the euro area;
the lack of a single settlement system in Europe;
the great diversity of the features and the terms and conditions of short-term securities;
the segmentation of investors’ demand at national level.

4. A 4 pillars organisation:
the STEP Market Convention sets out a number of specific industry best practice standards to be adhered to by issuers and other market participants;
the STEP Label will be granted to the programs, which demonstrate that they meet the standards set in the Market Convention;
the independent STEP Secretariat will carry out the labeling process;
the STEP Market Committee, made out of independent market experts, will provide the right guidance for the initiative.

6. Launched in July 2006, STEP already has 55 programmes