Croatia joins the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement system

The Croatian market has joined the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system following a successful migration to the platform.

As a result of this successful migration, the Croatian automated clearing house Financial Agency (FINA), as well as seven banks are now reachable on the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) platform. The banks in question are Addiko Bank d.d. Zagreb, BKS Bank AG, Glavna podružnica Hrvatska, Hrvatska poštanska banka d.d. Zagreb, Istarska kreditna banka Umag d.d. Umag, Partner banka d.d. Zagreb, Privredna banka Zagreb d.d. Zagreb, and Zagrebačka banka d.d. Zagreb. 

European companies and citizens who have accounts at either of these seven banks can now benefit from instant payments. According to the European Central Bank, the next step for the Croatian market is to link up with the TARGET2-Securities system for securities settlement, which is scheduled to take place in September 2023.

More information about TIPS

TIPS represents the Eurosystem’s instant settlement platform for electronic retail payments. It operates every day of the year, around the clock, connecting the 99% or so of euro area payment service providers that use the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme. There are two ways that allow banks and payment service providers to join TIPS. One involves them becoming direct participants by opening an account in TIPS, while the other involves them becoming reachable parties by entering into an agreement with a direct participant. 

Participating payment service providers can set aside part of their liquidity on a dedicated account opened with their respective central bank, from which instant payments can be settled. It is only possible to add funds to TIPS accounts during T2 opening hours. 

According to the ECB, TIPS was developed as an extension of TARGET2 and settles payments in central bank money. TIPS currently only settles payment transfers in euro. However, the central banks of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have shown interest in joining TIPS and settling instant payments in their national currencies. 

As more and more entities are looking to join TIPS, ACI Worldwide has been working to support banks and financial institutions to comply with and prepare for the upcoming European Commission (EC) Mandate on Instant Payments. ACI’s Enterprise Payments Platform currently supports 20 banks with access and connectivity to TIPS and RT1, offering end-to-end instant payments, orchestration, and value-added services, combined with AI-powered fraud protection.

The company recently launched its ACI Instant Pay solution in Europe and the UK, enabling merchants to accept online, mobile, and in-store payments instantly via API integration with its Payments Orchestration Platform.