The fragmentation and complexity of Europe s settlement structures mean that the overall service provided to the securities industry and its users is far from cost effective. Peter Norman provides an authoritative account of why this is so, drawing on an impressive array of individual experience and sources, and sets the stage very persuasively for the further rationalisation that the industry needs.  

Sir David Walker, Senior Adviser, Morgan Stanley International

Excellently researched and sound in judgment Plumbers and Visionaries offers a fund of lessons to be learnt in the ongoing pursuit of higher efficiency in the European post trading space.

Dr Werner Frey, CEO, European Securities Forum

Peter Norman has written a reliable, fascinating and eminently readable account of where we have come from and where we are today in the unfinished European securities settlement saga. For those interested in the broad area of European financial integration he allows an insight into this highly technical, but from the financial stability angle so crucial topic yet provides at the same time much needed food for thought for the practitioners and policy makers who should be able to learn a lot from his historical approach.

Alexandre Lamfalussy, Former President of the European Monetary Institute, and President of the Committee of Wise Men on the Regulation of European Securities Markets

This book is a must for anybody interested in understanding the importance of post trading in the financial system and its evolution in Europe. It really brings out the peculiarities of the European marketplace, as well as the personalities of the different actors. Surprising as it may sound, this book on plumbers was great fun for me to read!

Alberto Giovannini, CEO of Unifortune, and Chairman of the Giovannini Group of advisors to the EU

Anyone interested in understanding the extraordinary growth of international capital markets should read Peter Norman s Plumbers and Visionaries and his vivid account of the evolution of the securities custody and settlement systems on which both our markets and our monetary arrangements have come to rely.

Peter R. Fisher, Managing Director of BlackRock and former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury

Peter Norman has written a fascinating and seminal account about one of the most arcane, yet critical market segments for European financial integration. This lively book shows how complicated it is to make progress; how diverse are the actors and their interests. For students of European economic integration here is an important empirical case to study.

David Wright, Director of Financial Services Policy and Financial Markets in the European Commission