Swedish market participants are settling instant payments in Swedish kronor in the Eurosystem TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS), after a successful migration. Sweden is the first non-euro area country to join TIPS with its national currency.
The technical connection between Sveriges Riksbank’s real-time gross settlement system RIX-RTGS and the TIPS platform was established in May 2022. Since 19 February 2024, the Swedish market has been fully onboarded to TIPS, with 11 payment service providers that can transfer funds in central bank money between their Swedish kronor accounts in seconds.
Sweden is one of the world’s most advanced countries when it comes to instant payments, with around 1 billion payments settled in 2023. The new connection allows payments with the Swedish person-to-person mobile payment solution, Swish, to take place on TIPS using the single instructing party settlement model.
TIPS is the Eurosystem platform enabling payment service providers to settle instant payments in central bank money. It ensures that European citizens and businesses can send and receive payments instantly, regardless of the opening hours of their bank. TIPS is designed as a multicurrency platform, currently offering instant payments settlement in two currencies: the euro and the Swedish krona. The onboarding of Sweden paves the way for other non-euro area countries that have also expressed interest, such as Denmark and Norway, to join TIPS.
In October 2023, the ECB's governing council advanced the digital euro project after completing the investigation phase. The envisioned digital currency aims to facilitate diverse digital payments across the euro area, prioritising user privacy and accessibility. The preparation phase, starting November 2023, finalised the rulebook, selected providers, and conducted testing, with ongoing engagement with stakeholders. Evaluation after two years will determine further steps towards potential issuance and rollout.
In March 2023, the European Central Bank has introduced a new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system and central liquidity management tool, named T2, replacing TARGET2. The migration to T2 occurred smoothly between 17 and 20 March 2023, with the system handling around 400,000 transactions on its first operational day. Developed by four national central banks, T2 aims to enhance payment settlement efficiency and reliability.
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