Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer System

--- CONTENT ---
The Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer System, known mainly as Target (), is a payment system allowing EU banks to transfer funds in real time throughout the Union.

The so-called large-value settlement system, Target 1, was introduced in early 1999 with the introduction of the euro.
Target 1 was only a transition to Target 2, a real common platform.

Target 1

The introduction of the euro required a settlement mechanism for the euro area as a whole. Two objectives were assigned to TARGET:
serve as a vehicle for the transmission of monetary policy, in particular to enable the equalisation of money market rates ;
enhance the security of large-value settlements through real-time gross settlement.

In order to limit the risks associated with the project, even though all actors had to adapt to the euro, it was decided to adopt a minimum harmonisation solution. Each country maintained its real-time gross settlement system, limiting the changes expected by participants. Their connection through SWIFT, called "Interlinking", allows irrevocable real-time transfers to be made throughout the euro area (the processing time is less than 5 minutes for more than 95% of transactions).

TARGET 1 was therefore composed of:
real-time gross settlement systems in each country:
Germany: DB (Deutsche Bundesbank)
Belgium: ELLIPS
Denmark: KRONOS
Greece: HERMES
Spain: SLBE
France : TBF
Ireland: IRIS
Italy : New BIREL
Netherlands: TOP
Poland: SORBNET - EURO (from )
Portugal: SPGT
Finland: BoF-RTGS
United Kingdom: CHAPS Clearing Co.
the ECB's payment mechanism (EPM)
Interlinking

The TBF system, managed by the Banque de France, was the French component of TARGET.

Target 2

Target 2 Architecture
The Single Shared Platform (SSP) supporting TARGET 2 is managed by the central banks of France, Germany and Italy on behalf of all the other participating European central banks.

The main difference with the TARGET 1 architecture is that financial institutions can connect to the TARGET 2 platform directly via the SWIFT network without technically passing through their central bank. Legally, each country maintains its own real-time gross settlement system, with accounts maintained in the books of the National Central Bank, which is based on the common technical infrastructure of TARGET2.

At the end of its upswing, TARGET2 will allow participants to optimize their liquidity management either by using a single account for all their transactions in Europe or by using a group of accounts