The Eurosystem has decided to expand its work on connecting TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) with fast-payment infrastructures abroad. The move aims to move forward with a project that has been under review since late 2024. Representatives from the European Central Bank (ECB) confirmed that the initiative aims to simplify the movement of funds between Europe and other regions, including remittance flows, by creating direct links with systems that already handle high-volume instant transfers.
Progress on cross-border instant payment links
Work to examine an interconnection between TIPS and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has now progressed to what officials described as an implementation phase. Technical preparations and the associated legal framework will be developed in parallel. UPI, overseen by the Reserve Bank of India and run by the National Payments Corporation of India, processes some of the world’s highest numbers of real-time transactions. According to the ECB, India is also among the largest destinations for remittances originating from euro area countries, making the corridor an important point for the project.
Alongside this, the ECB will continue studying whether TIPS could also link to Nexus Global Payments. The model, managed by Nexus Global Payments Ltd, is intended to connect several Asian fast-payment systems operated by central banks in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and India. Officials noted that legal and operational arrangements still need to be clarified before any decision can be made on a potential connection.
In addition, in September 2025, the Governing Council initiated an assessment of whether TIPS could interoperate with the Swiss Interbank Clearing Instant Payments system, expanding the scope beyond Asia-focused corridors.
According to ECB representatives, expanding TIPS connections aligns with the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy and contributes to the G20 programme aimed at improving speed, cost and transparency in cross-border payments. The general objective is to extend interoperability to additional currency routes over time.
