TARGET Ecosystem Overview

EBA Clearing's large-value hybrid payment system reached its highest monthly averages of 2025 in December, processing 207,642 transactions per day worth €207 billion. The system enters 2026 with 36 direct participants and 34 directly addressable sub-participants, the latter growing from 28 as non-bank PSP access pathways expanded.

The UK Payment Systems Regulator's annual programme for its last year of independent operation before merging into the FCA commits to implementing domestic scheme fee transparency remedies, advancing cross-border interchange reform, and publishing an independent evaluation of mandatory APP fraud reimbursement.

Six merchants including Air France, E.Leclerc, and Orange have signed Wero agreements, nine banks provide 90 percent French account coverage, and the national tax authority DGFIP has stated its intention to adopt Wero for public invoices. The specific launch date remains unconfirmed as EPI's original H1 2026 target approaches.

The SARB's acquisition of a 50 percent stake in the national low-value processor, combined with an activity-based licensing framework for fintechs and the Vision 2030+ consultation, positions SAMOS and the broader settlement infrastructure for the most significant structural overhaul since the RTGS system launched in 1998.

TARGET T2, EURO1, and STEP2-T will close for Good Friday and Easter Monday on April 3 and 6, while RT1 and TIPS continue 24/7 instant settlement through the four-day window at their current combined rate of over 10 million daily transactions. With six months of IPR sending mandate compliance behind the market, the Easter period offers a practical measure of how effectively instant rails now absorb payment flows that previously depended on batch settlement schedules.

Hungary's AFR instant payment system recorded 344 percent quarterly growth in merchant transactions through its qvik overlay in early 2025. Average instant payment values of HUF 23,000 are 2.3 times higher than card payments at HUF 10,000, suggesting differentiated adoption at the point of sale. With 31,000 merchant locations and request-to-pay volumes surging 49 percent quarter-on-quarter, Hungary offers an early test case for whether mandatory instant payment systems can compete with card networks.

Originally launched as BESP in 2007, Russia's RTGS function was absorbed into the Bank of Russia's unified payment platform around 2019. The urgent transfer service now processes approximately RUB 4,130 trillion annually, making it one of the largest RTGS systems globally by value, though transaction count data remains undisclosed.

The ECB plans to release the digital euro technical rulebook this summer so terminal manufacturers and payment developers can build infrastructure before EU legislation passes, followed by a twelve-month pilot in the second half of 2027 and potential issuance around 2029.

The Federal Reserve's decision to extend Fedwire Funds Service to 22 hours per day, six days per week positions the United States to close structural gaps in global USD settlement availability, with direct implications for CHIPS netting cycles and cross-border payment flows across Asian and European time zones.

A data-driven profile of Hungary's VIBER real-time gross settlement system, covering its settlement architecture, 45-institution participant base, operating schedule, and the regulatory significance of Wise gaining direct central bank access as the first non-bank RTGS participant in the European Union.