TARGET payment services: what are they and what can you do with them?

This set of services is continuously updated by the central banks that together make up the Eurosystem. They assess whether the TARGET Services continue to meet market needs and whether they contribute to the further integration of the European financial markets.

These activities lead to tangible improvements in terms of efficiency and innovation. One example of this is Pontes, the Eurosystem’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) solution. The aim of Pontes is to connect TARGET with market DLT systems, enabling transactions on DLT platforms to be settled in central bank money. In time, this initiative could develop into an additional TARGET service (see the ECB website for more information on this topic).

T2: euro payments in Europe

TARGET stands for Trans-European Automated Real-Time Gross Settlement Express Transfer. Over 1,000 banks use T2 to carry out euro transactions, for themselves or on behalf of their customers. On average, 400,000 transactions are processed every day, with a total value of €2.2 trillion. Most of these involve large sums: the average transaction value is €5.5 million. 72% of all T2 transactions have a value of less than €50,000 and 9% have a value over €1 million.

T2: the role of DNB

T2 is a payment system for banks in the EU. It is managed by the eurosystem(Refers to an external site). T2 enables the free cross-border transfer of funds, and it supports the implementation of monetary policy. The central banks have an operational role: they are responsible for opening accounts and monitoring transactions. Funds transfers between retail banks are processed through their central banks. These transfers happen very quickly: 99.91% of transactions are processed in under five minutes.

T2: central banks' balances

Central banks can have outstanding balances with other central banks. Every national central bank holds a certain balance in T2 with the European Central Bank (ECB) as a result of cross-border payments. The balance is positive for creditors and negative for debtors. The ECB(Refers to an external site) has data on DNB's and the other central banks' balance positions.

More information on T2

T2 is available every day of the week except weekends and the following days: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

We have legal documentation, presentations and registration forms available for participants. Please contact the TARGET-NL Services National Service Desk if you have any questions. Mail to targetservices@dnb.nl or call +31 20 - 524 3564.

You can find more information on the ECB-site.(Refers to an external site)

TARGET2 Securities: securities transactions in Europe

TARGET2 Securities (T2S) is a platform for the settlement of securities transactions. DNB and the other central banks provide this platform, together with the central securities depositories (CSDs). T2S is used to process domestic and cross-border delivery-versus-payment transactions in central bank money. Its motto is "settling without borders". The platform is heavily used: more than 750,000 transactions are settled daily. Retail banks, the EU central banks and the CSDs all use the T2S platform.

TARGET2 Securities: participants  

The platform for the settlement of securities transactions in euro is used by

• almost all euro area countries, and
• four non-euro countries: Denmark, Hungary, Romania and Switzerland.

Since October 2018, the Danish central bank makes use of T2S to settle delivery-versus-payment transactions in the Danish currency in central bank money. As more and more markets and currencies join the platform, the benefits for its users will increase. T2S perfectly ties in with the Eurosystem's ambition to create an integrated European capital market.

More information about T2S

We have legal documentation, presentations and registration forms available for participants. You can also find more information on the ECB-site(Refers to an external site).

TIPS – Direct or Instant payments for retail customers

TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) is a market infrastructure service launched by the Eurosystem in November 2018. It enables payment service providers to offer fund transfers to their customers in real time and around the clock, every day of the year. This means that thanks to TIPS, individuals and firms can transfer money between each other within seconds, irrespective of the opening hours of their local bank.

TIPS and settles instant payments in central bank money. TIPS currently only settles payment transfers in euro and the Swedish krona. However, the central banks of Denmark and Norway have shown interest in joining TIPS and settle instant payments in their national currencies.

You can find more information on the ECB website: What is TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS)? (europa.eu)