TARGET2 Successfully Launched on March 20, 2023
In our November 2022 Tomato Catch Up, we discussed the postponement of the TARGET2 project, along with the ISO 20022 migration extension. The go-live date was pushed out from November 21, 2022T to March 20, 2023, to ensure greater system stability and user readiness.
Target2 is Eurosystem’s new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system and central liquidity management tool. The users of TARGET2 are the EU central banks and the commercial banks in each member country. More than 1,700 banks use TARGET2 to make transfers in euros for themselves or for their customers.
The migration to the new system took place between 17 and 20 March 2023. The first day of TARGET2 operations went smoothly despite a delayed closure, which was identified and fixed. The new RTGS system settled around 400,000 transactions, similar to the average volume before the migration. The software and the environment for the new system were delivered by the Banca d’Italia, the Banco de España, the Banque de France, and the Deutsche Bundesbank (the four central banks that act as service providers for TARGET services).