On 21 October 2024, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the launch of two initiatives designed to help improve cross-border payments within the EU and beyond.

The initiatives build on the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service, and relate to:

  • Implementation of a cross-currency settlement service in TIPS which will allow instant payments originating in one TIPS currency to be settled in another TIPS currency and in central bank money. Initially, euro, Swedish kronor and Danish krone will be available for settlement. A call for interest will be launched in Q4 2024 to ensure that the service will meet the requirements of the market. While the cross-currency settlement service is being implemented in TIPS, interested payment service providers will be involved in testing the service.
  • Exploratory work on linking TIPS with other fast payment systems including developing links with partners outside the EU to improve cross-border payments globally. This initiative includes: (i)  implementing a cross-currency settlement service for the TIPS platform, based on the European Payments Council’s One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer scheme; (ii) joining the multilateral network of instant payment systems, Project Nexus, led by the Bank for International Settlements; and (iii) establishing a bilateral link with India’s Unified Payments Interface, an instant payments system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.