Admission

Change dates for the RT1 System are set by the below conditions:

• One change date per week (Tuesday).
• Legal and administrative documents to meet a change date is that of two weeks prior to the given date
• It shall not fall during the frozen period between the second week of December and the second week of January

Admission criteria

In order to fulfil the criteria for admission to and continued participation in the RT1 System, a participant must*:

• be authorised to act as a credit institution, or be authorised under relevant EEA laws as an electronic money institution (EMI) or payment institution (PI)
• have access to TIPS account in TARGET, either as a TARGET participant or through a liquidity provider that is a participant in TARGET
• be able to comply with the technical and operational requirements of the RT1 System, including requirements aiming at ensuring the participant’s availability, its capacity to send and receive payments, or the security of its IT connection
• have its registered office in the EU, the EEA, or, for credit institutions also, the OECD, or SEPA
• participate in the system via its registered office or a branch located in the geographical area of SEPA
• provide a capacity opinion with respect to its participation in the RT1 System
• provide, where applicable, a statement of compliance with conditions set out by EEA laws** for PIs and EMIs requesting their participation in designated payment systems
• for PIs or EMIs, provide a statement confirming that the system is not used for safeguarding of clients’ funds

In addition to the above, admission to participate in any of the RT1 Services (RT1 SCT Inst and RT1 OCT Inst), is contingent on the applicant’s adherence to the corresponding SEPA Scheme Rulebook of the European Payments Council.

Participants may include entities which have a BIC (ISO9362) and for which the participant has been appointed (an “Addressable PSP”) in the routing tables maintained for RT1. Addressable PSPs do not send or receive payment orders directly through RT1; all payment orders are included in the messages sent and received by the participants. The relationship between a participant and an Addressable PSP for which the participant is acting in relation to the receipt or forwarding of messages processed in RT1 is exclusively governed by their respective bilateral arrangements and is outside of the context of the RT1 System.

 

*Access by non-bank PSPs - May 2025: Access by non-bank PSPs to the system will become possible from the moment EEA PIs and EMIs are able to access the TARGET system and relevant EEA laws*** have been transposed. Subject to amendments of the TARGET guideline and such transposition, the admission criteria relevant to the participation of EEA PIs and EMIs in RT1 are thus now expected to be applicable from October 2025.

** Pursuant to Article 35a of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (Payment Services Directive 2 or PSD2) as amended.

*** Amendments to PSD2 and to the Directive 98/26/EC (Settlement Finality Directive or SFD), allowing PIs/EMIs participation in payment systems.

Exclusion, Suspension and Withdrawal from the RT1 System

A participant can be prevented by EBA CLEARING from continuing to participate in the system if certain  suspension or exclusion events occur.

Operational defaults will be addressed in first instance through the activation of incident handling and, as applicable, crisis management arrangements.

The occurrence of a suspension or exclusion event and the consequences thereof for the suspended / excluded participant and for the other participants are determined solely in accordance with the rules governing the system. The system’s rules are proprietary and confidential, and are available to all participants, to prospective participants that have applied to become a participant, and to relevant authorities including in particular the European Central Bank as the lead overseer of RT1.

Exclusion

Events that may give rise to exclusion comprise in particular:

• Termination of access to TARGET/TIPS
• Loss of banking or PI/EMI license
• Insolvency or comparable situations (unless an exclusion or suspension would contravene legislation implementing the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) or equivalent third country legislation)

An RT1 Participant may also be excluded in case a suspension event has not been remedied within 30 calendar days.

Suspension

The criteria for participation in the RT1 System consist of necessary technical and operational requirements to enable the processing of instant payments, as well as funding and withdrawal of funds operations in TIPS.

A participant may be suspended if non-compliance with the ongoing criteria for participation cannot be mitigated, e.g. in the case of relocation outside SEPA.

Withdrawal

A participant can withdraw from the RT1 System by giving notice of at least five TARGET business days in advance of terminating its participation to the System Agreement.

Pricing

For information on the RT1 pricing, please click here.