10 Years of TARGET

19 November 2008



TEN YEARS OF TARGET AND THE LAUNCH OFTARGET2

TARGET (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system), an interbank payment system for the real-time processing of cross-border transfers in euro throughout the European Union, was made up of 17 national real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems 1 and the ECB payment mechanism (EPM). Between November 2007 and May 2008, TARGET was replaced by an enhanced and streamlined version of the system, called TARGET2. TARGET, and now TARGET2, is run by the Eurosystem, the central banking system of the euro area. This article recalls the most important events which marked the ten years of TARGET, describes the TARGET2 project, and provides the first statistical data collected after the first weeks of TARGET2 operations.

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