The Bank of England has given a lukewarm response to joining a European Central Bank plan to streamline pan-European securities settlement, setting two conditions for whether it continues to assess the project.

The development marks the first snag encountered by the ECB as it attempts to win support from the UK for joining the project, known as Target 2 Securities. It envisages the creation of a single platform for cross-border and domestic securities settlement against central bank money, by 2013.