TIPS – central hub for instant payments in Europe

Reachability among participants is a crucial element for the success of a payment scheme. In July 2020, the ECB Governing Council therefore decided on a package of measures to ensure – via the Eurosystem’s range of services – the pan-European reachability of all payment service providers that have adhered to the SCT Inst scheme. 

These measures ensure the pan-European reachability of all participants

• by requiring all payment service providers that have adhered to the SCT Inst scheme and are reachable in T2 to also be reachable via a TIPS-DCA; and
• by operating in TIPS the technical accounts of all ancillary systems that process SCT Inst payments.

As a result, ancillary systems are connected via the TIPS platform and their participants are able to exchange SCT Inst payments. In addition, operating the technical accounts in TIPS has the advantage that the cover amounts required to settle payments in ancillary systems can be transferred from the participants’ TIPS accounts to ancillary systems’ technical accounts around the clock (24/7). Previously, this had been possible during TARGET2 operating times only.