History of the Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement systems

The introduction of the euro necessitated a payment service to support monetary policy operations and settle euro payments across national borders within the EU. To meet this need, the first-generation real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, TARGET, was launched on January 4, 1999, a few days after the launch of the euro.

TARGET was developed by linking together the different RTGS structures that already existed at the national level as there was not enough time to develop a single system. However, this decentralised structure proved inefficient and costly in the long term. The Banque de France, Deutsche Bundesbank and Banca d’Italia were tasked with developing the new platform and acting as a service provider on behalf of the Eurosystem. TARGET2 was launched on 19 November 2007 and fully replaced TARGET by May 2008.

TARGET2 operated smoothly for over a decade, ensuring safety and efficiency in European payments. However, payments changed significantly during this period due to technological developments, new regulatory requirements and evolving consumer demands.

In response, the Eurosystem launched a review of its RTGS services in December 2017. The objective was to consolidate the technical and functional aspects of TARGET2 and TARGET2-Securities, aiming to improve efficiency and reducing operating costs in the new RTGS system, T2. TARGET2 remained in operation until March 2023, when T2 was launched.

Additional information and data available in the Annual Reports 2000-2023

SSP Releases – TARGET2

• SSP Release 15.0 November 2021
• SSP Release 14.0 November 2020