Payment system services

TARGET2 is the real-time gross settlement system for EU national central banks. More than EUR 2,300 billion in payments are transferred daily through the system. The participating credit institutions may transfer euro-denominated payments in real time from their accounts with the central bank (in central bank money). The system is available between 8 and 19 from Monday to Friday, with the exception of some official holidays. More than 51,000 monetary financial institutions (MFIs) can be accessed via TARGET2. The Eurosystem executes its monetary policy operations in the TARGET2 system, while many other major payment systems use the system for settlement purposes.

 

TARGET2 provides its customers with harmonised services, prices and other terms and conditions. The system has in place flexible liquidity management services and various optional supplementary services. The national central banks provide these services to their account holders.

 

The centralised TARGET2 system was introduced in 2007 and succeeded TARGET, the decentralised system of national gross settlement systems, which had been in use since 1999.

 

The Bank of Finland TARGET2 component is called TARGET2-Suomen Pankki. Through this component, 19 participants, including credit institutions, are connected to TARGET2.  In TARGET2-Suomen Pankki, payments in the amount of more than EUR 37 billion are transferred every day. The Bank of Finland provides its customers with harmonised TARGET2 payment system and liquidity management services, including interface solutions, on a single Eurosystem platform.

 

For more information on the Bank of Finland's TARGET2 payment system services, eg services access criteria and contents of services, please contact the Banking Operations department (t2service@bof.fi).

 

The interbank payment system (PMJ) is a retail payment system for Finnish banks for direct debits and card payments. The system has 12 participants. In capacity of service provider, the Bank of Finland executes the fund transfers related to PMJ-participants' mutual assets and liabilities in the TARGET2 system twice a day.