The ECB Governing Council published the Eurosystem's comprehensive payments strategy on 31 March 2026, consolidating retail, wholesale, and cross-border payment initiatives into a unified framework for the first time. The strategy designates T2 as the backbone of euro area payment systems. The Eurosystem will examine possibilities for extending T2 operating hours beyond the current weekday 02:30 to 18:00 CET window.
The document reaffirms the Pontes delivery target by the end of Q3 2026 for central bank money settlement of DLT-based wholesale transactions. It endorses tokenisation for wholesale markets while requiring that private settlement assets be EU-governed, euro-denominated, and regulated.
In a related speech in Riga on 1 April 2026, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone reported that two-thirds of euro area card transactions operate under non-European business rules. The strategy targets digital euro pilot transactions from mid-2027 and issuance by 2029 subject to legislative adoption.