2023-11-20
The Governor of the Bank of France issued Decision 2023-05 to amend the harmonized conditions for participation in the TARGET system, implementing ECB guidelines on emergency connectivity, account termination procedures, and fee structures. The decision mandates critical participants to establish a second technical connection by March 2026 and updates rules regarding the duration, termination, and confidentiality of TARGET participation. It also introduces new fee schedules for TIPS accounts and settlement procedures effective January 1, 2024, while adjusting penalties for central counterparties and intraday credit defaults.
Decision No. 2023-05 of November 20, 2023, amending the Decision of the Governor of the Bank of France No. 2022-05 of July 6, 2022, on the harmonized conditions for participation in the new generation transeuropean automated real-time gross settlement express transfer system (TARGET)
THE GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF FRANCE
Having regard to:
HEREBY DECIDES:
Article 1 Modifications
The Decision of the Governor of the Bank of France No. 2022-05 of July 6, 2022, on the harmonized conditions for participation in the new generation transeuropean automated real-time gross settlement express transfer system (TARGET), is amended as follows:
"4. The Eurosystem offers an emergency solution to be applied if the events described in paragraph 1 occur. Connection to the emergency solution and use of this solution may be made at the request of a participant and are mandatory in the following cases: a) for participants considered critical by the Bank of France and for participants settling very critical operations, as provided for in Appendix IV; b) with effect from 21 March 2025, for all SEs and for all RTGS account holders."
b) Article 24 is replaced by the following text:
"Article 24 Duration and ordinary termination of participation, closure of accounts
Without prejudice to Article 25, participation in TARGET-BANK OF FRANCE is for an indefinite duration.
A participant may, at any time respecting a notice period of fourteen business days, unless an agreement is concluded with the Bank of France for a shorter notice period: a) terminate its participation in TARGET-BANK OF FRANCE, unless the participant is an institution falling under Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2021/378 (ECB/2021/1), in which case it continues to hold at least one MCA for the purpose of complying with applicable reserve requirements, provided that the participant continues to comply with Articles 4 and 5; b) close one or more of its RTGS accounts, SE technical RTGS accounts, or SE technical TIPS accounts; c) close one or more of its MCAs, unless the participant is an institution falling under Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2021/378 (ECB/2021/1), in which case it continues to hold at least one MCA for the purpose of complying with applicable reserve requirements, provided that the participant continues to comply with Articles 4 and 5.
The Bank of France may, at any time respecting a notice period of three months, unless an agreement is concluded with the concerned participant for a different notice period: a) terminate a participant's participation in TARGET-BANK OF FRANCE, unless the participant is an institution falling under Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2021/378 (ECB/2021/1), in which case the Bank of France continues to make available at least one MCA for the purpose of complying with applicable reserve requirements, provided that the participant continues to comply with Articles 4 and 5; b) close one or more of a participant's RTGS accounts, SE technical RTGS accounts, or SE technical TIPS accounts; c) close one or more MCAs of a participant, provided that it continues to hold at least one MCA.
When participation ends, the confidentiality obligations provided for in Article 28 remain in force for five years from the date on which participation ended.
When participation ends, the Bank of France closes all TARGET accounts of the concerned participant in accordance with Article 26, except for MCAs that the participant continues to hold in accordance with paragraph 2(a), or that the Bank of France continues to make available in accordance with paragraph 3(a)."
c) in Article 31, the following paragraph 1 bis is inserted:
"1 bis. With effect from 21 March 2026, participants considered critical by the Bank of France shall establish, in addition to the technical connection mentioned in paragraph 1, a second technical connection to TARGET-BANK OF FRANCE in case of emergency via a second PSR in accordance with the procedures set out in paragraph 1. The second technical connection may be made via the User-to-Application (U2A) access of the second PSR, intended for users with a low volume of operations."
"3. An MCA holder fulfilling the function of co-manager complies with the obligations of the co-managed MCA holder defined in the first part, Article 5, paragraph 1(a), Article 10, paragraph 4, and Article 31, paragraphs 1 and 1 bis."
b) in Article 2, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following text:
"4. The holder of a co-managed MCA complies with the obligations of a participant defined in the first and second parts regarding the co-managed MCA. If the MCA holder has no direct technical connection with TARGET, the first part, Article 5, paragraph 1(a), Article 10, paragraph 4, and Article 31, paragraphs 1 and 1 bis, do not apply."
c) in Article 10, paragraph 7 is replaced by the following text:
"7. The penalties and measures provided for in Articles 12 and 13 apply when eligible central counterparties do not repay the twenty-four-hour credit granted by their NCB."
d) in Article 12, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following text:
"2. Failure to repay the intraday credit by the end of the day, by an entity referred to in Article 10, paragraph 1, is automatically considered as a request for recourse to the marginal lending facility by that entity. If an entity referred to in Article 10, paragraph 1, holds more than one MCA or one or more RTGS accounts, any end-of-day balance on these accounts is taken into account for the calculation of the number of automatic recourses by the entity to the marginal lending facility. This does not result in any equivalent release of assets previously deposited as collateral for the underlying intraday credit exposure."
"5. An external system may send instant payment orders and positive responses to a recall request to any holder of a TIPS RTGS account or any holder of a TIPS technical account of an SE. An external system receives and processes instant payment orders, recall requests, and positive responses to a recall request from any holder of a TIPS RTGS account or any holder of a TIPS technical account of an SE."
b) in Article 7, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following text:
"1. The holder of a TIPS technical account of an SE may designate one or more reachable parties. Reachable parties have adhered to the SCT Inst scheme by signing the adhesion agreement to the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer system and, if they are addressable in TARGET as holders of addressable BIC RTGS accounts, holders of addressable BICs, or as entities referred to in the third part, Article 3, paragraph 1(a), having been authorized to use an RTGS account via multi-destination access, they hold a TIPS account or are reachable via a TIPS account."
"6) FEES APPLICABLE TO TIPS ACCOUNT HOLDERS
| Element | Rule Applied | Fee per element (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Settled instant payment order | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a debit | 0.002 |
| Unsettled instant payment order | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a debit | 0.002 |
| Positive settled response to a recall request | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a credit | 0.002 |
| Positive unsettled response to a recall request | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a credit | 0.002 |
b) Liquidity transfer orders from TIPS accounts to: MCAs, RTGS accounts, sub-accounts, current deposit accounts, SE technical TIPS accounts, and T2S accounts are not charged.
b) section 7 (FEES APPLICABLE TO SEs USING AN SE TIPS SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE) is replaced by the following text:
"7. FEES APPLICABLE TO SEs USING AN SE TIPS SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE
| Element | Rule Applied | Fee per element (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Settled instant payment order | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a debit | 0.002 |
| Unsettled instant payment order | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a debit | 0.002 |
| Positive settled response to a recall request | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a credit | 0.002 |
| Positive unsettled response to a recall request | Party to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a credit | 0.002 |
b) Liquidity transfer orders from SE technical TIPS accounts to TIPS accounts are not charged; c) In addition to the fees mentioned above, each SE is subject to a monthly fee based on the underlying gross volume of instant payments, quasi-instant payments, and positive responses to recall requests that have been settled on the SE's own platform and made possible by pre-financed positions on the SE technical TIPS account. The fee amounts to 0.0005 EUR per settled instant payment, settled quasi-instant payment, or settled positive response to a recall request. Each SE declares, for each month, the underlying gross volume of its settled instant payments, settled quasi-instant payments, and settled positive responses to recall requests, rounded down to the nearest ten thousand, no later than the third business day of the following month. The declared underlying gross volume is used by the Bank of France to calculate the fee for the following month.
| Declared Underlying Gross Volume | From | To | Unit Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10,000,000 | 0.00040 € | |
| 10,000,001 | 25,000,000 | 0.00030 € | |
| 25,000,001 | 100,000,000 | 0.00020 € | |
| 100,000,001 | 0.00015 € |
"54) 'recall request': a message from a holder of an RTGS account, a holder of a TIPS account, or a holder of an SE technical TIPS account requesting the repayment, respectively, of a settled payment order or a settled instant payment order;".
Article 2 Publication and entry into force
Done in Paris, on 20 November 2023
The Governor of the Bank of France François VILLEROY de GALHAU