Payment Cycle

ECC performs the financial settlement for all energy transactions contracted on ECC‘s partner exchanges. 

The payment and delivery have strict timelines. On each business day ECC initiates the collections and payments from/to the members bank accounts.
 
Financial settlement at ECC encompasses both EUR and GBP payments, providing a comprehensive solution for members. ECC has established a daily booking cut-off time at 16:00:00 CET (T+0), which determines the settlement timeline. Trades concluded before this cut-off are financially settled in the morning of the following T2/UK business days, while others follow with a one-day delay.

To streamline operations, commodity amounts from all trades are netted into a single net payment amount per DCP member and Settlement Bank. These figures are diligently reported in daily Payment Reports accessible through the ECC Member Area.

EUR payments are processed until 8:00 a.m. CET (T+1) on T2 operating days. GBP payments follow a fixed overnight schedule on UK business days and are processed at 9:00 a.m. CET (T+1). 

DCP Payment Setup

For seamless settlement, DCP members must maintain accounts with Settlement Banks that meet specific requirements, including a connection with ECC's Settlement Bank, ABN AMRO Bank. For EUR payments, the Connected Bank should also participate directly in T2, the EUR central bank payment system. For GBP payments the Settlement Bank must be able to handle CHAPS transactions.

Payments between ECC and DCP members via the Connected Bank infrastructure rely on SWIFT messages. These SWIFT messages are generated from ECC's clearing system and sent through ECC's Settlement Bank, ABN AMRO Bank (BIC: ABNANL2A), to the Connected Bank of the DCP member. This secure and efficient system ensures smooth financial settlement operations.

Please find further information on the general DCP payment requirements and how to set-up a DCP account at a Settlement bank in the below presentation:

Connected Banks

Connected Banks are institutions which maintain one or more Settlement Accounts for DCP members and have an agreement with ABN AMRO Bank

The following table contains a list of financial intermediaries that currently offer the service of a Connected Bank to DCP members of ECC. Please be advised that the decision to accept a company as a client for its payment services rests with the Connected Bank alone. 

Is your preferred bank not on the list? ABN AMRO Bank  maintains a large network of Connected Banks. Please reach out to our Direct Clearing Team (direct.clearing@ecc.de) to check whether your preferred bank’s BIC codes are connected to ABN AMRO Bank and whether your bank is a direct participant in T2 or can participate in CHAPS payments (GBP payments).

Payment Set-up for nEHS-DCP clients

For clients that only participate in nEHS auctions and maintain a dedicated nEHS-DCP membership with ECC, the payment set-up differs from the standard DCP model. Please find more information here.