The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a consultation paper (CP) exploring the extension of operating hours for its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, T2. This involves both its daily operational hours and its operational days, while also considering the potential interaction with the operating hours of TARGET2-Securities (T2S), even though T2S is generally outside the scope of the consultation. T2's operating hours were extended previously in 2023, but the ECB is consulting on a further extension given the growing liquidity management challenges for banks due to increasing use of instant payments and the potential introduction of a digital euro.
The ECB has outlined several options for extending T2 operating hours including: (i) moving towards a 24-hour operational day, by reducing the duration of the phase between end-of-day (currently at 18:00) and reopening for settlement (currently at 19:30) to a shorter time window—possibly close to zero; (ii) moving towards a six or seven-day operational week, enabling settlement on Saturdays and/or Sundays; and (iii) moving towards a 365-day operational year, enabling settlement on the six TARGET holidays, in addition to weekends. The ECB has also proposed re-assessing key operational features of the system which includes the: (i) reorganisation of payments settlement during night-time; (ii) adjustments of key cut-off; (iii) availability of the intraday credit line; and (iv) opening of new value dates. The deadline for comments to the CP is 30 September.
