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.
• have TARGET/TIPS access:
  • have a direct participant status in TARGET and hold and have access to a TIPS dedicated cash account (DCA), or (b) have a liquidity provider that has the status of a direct participant in TARGET and holds and has access to a TIPS DCA.
• be able to comply with the technical and operational requirements of the RT1 System, including requirements aiming at ensuring availability of the RT1 Participant during the operational times of the system.
• have its registered office in a Member State of the EU, the EEA or the OECD, or a country or territory which is part of 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.
• adhere to the SCT Inst Scheme Rulebook of the European Payments Council.

Access by non-bank PSPs – November 2024

In view of recent amendments made to the EU Settlement Finality Directive (SFD), access to and participation in the RT1 System will be expanded to allow payment institutions (PIs) and electronic money institutions (EMIs) in scope of the SFD to gain direct access to this system.

Thus, the current participation criterion allowing entities “authorised to act as a credit institution” in all relevant jurisdictions to participate, will be expanded to include eligible PIs and EMIs.

All other existing admission and participation criteria will need to be fulfilled by any new applicant, as well as by all existing participants on a continuous basis. The RT1 Rules will be applied in the same way to all prospective and existing participants. The changes shall become effective on or after 9 April 2025, subject to the transposition of the amended SFD and update of the TARGET Guideline.

Exclusion, Suspension and Withdrawal from the RT1 System

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 RT1 Rules. The systems’ rules are proprietary and confidential, and are available to all participants, to prospective participants that have applied for becoming a participant, and to relevant authorities including in particular the European Central Bank / Eurosystem as overseer of RT1.

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

A participant can be prevented by the System Operator from continuing to participate in the system if certain events occur.

Exclusion

Events that may give rise to exclusion comprise in particular:

• Termination of access to TARGET2/TIPS.
• Loss of license to act as a credit institution.
• Insolvency or comparable situations (unless an exclusion or suspension would contravene legislation implementing the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) or equivalent third country legislation).
• A suspension event that has not been remedied within 30 calendar days.

Suspension

The criteria for participation in the RT1 System consist of necessary legal, technical and operational requirements to enable the processing of SCT Inst transactions, 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 otherwise mitigated, e.g. in the case of relocation outside SEPA.

Withdrawal

A participant can withdraw from the RT1 System by giving written notice of termination at least five TARGET2 business days prior to the withdrawal.

Pricing

For information on the RT1 pricing, please click here.