2023-11-20

Decision 2023-05 amending Decision 2022-05 on harmonized conditions for participation in the new generation TARGET system

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.

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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:

  • the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 127(2), first and fourth indents,
  • the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, and in particular Articles 3.1, 17, 18 and 22 thereof,
  • ECB Guideline (EU) 2022/912 of 24 February 2022 on the new generation transeuropean automated real-time gross settlement express transfer system (TARGET) and repealing Guideline 2013/47/EU (ECB/2012/27) (ECB/2022/8),
  • ECB Guideline (EU) 2023/2415 of 7 September 2023 amending Guideline (EU) 2022/912 on the new generation transeuropean automated real-time gross settlement express transfer system (TARGET) (ECB/2022/8) (ECB/2023/22),
  • the Monetary Agreement between the European Union and the Principality of Monaco of 29 November 2011,
  • the Monetary and Financial Code, and in particular Article L. 142-8 thereof,
  • 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).

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:

  1. In the first part: a) in Article 19, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following text:

"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

  1. Without prejudice to Article 25, participation in TARGET-BANK OF FRANCE is for an indefinite duration.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. When participation ends, the confidentiality obligations provided for in Article 28 remain in force for five years from the date on which participation ended.

  5. 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."

  1. The second part is amended as follows: a) in Article 2, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following text:

"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."

  1. The seventh part is amended as follows: a) in Article 1, paragraph 5 is replaced by the following text:

"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."

  1. Appendix VI is amended as follows: a) section 6 (FEES APPLICABLE TO TIPS ACCOUNT HOLDERS) is replaced by the following text:

"6) FEES APPLICABLE TO TIPS ACCOUNT HOLDERS

  1. Until 31 December 2023, the following fees apply: a) The operating fees for TIPS accounts are charged to the party indicated in the following table:
ElementRule AppliedFee per element (EUR)
Settled instant payment orderParty to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a debit0.002
Unsettled instant payment orderParty to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a debit0.002
Positive settled response to a recall requestParty to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a credit0.002
Positive unsettled response to a recall requestParty to be invoiced: the holder of the TIPS account via a credit0.002

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.

  1. With effect from 1 January 2024, the operating fees for TIPS accounts are charged as follows: a) For each TIPS account, a fixed monthly fee of 800 EUR is charged to the holder of the TIPS account; b) For each reachable party designated by the holder of the TIPS account, up to a maximum of 50 reachable parties, a fixed monthly fee of 20 EUR is charged to the holder of the TIPS account that designated it. No fee is charged for the fifty-first reachable party or for subsequent reachable parties; c) For each instant payment order or positive response to a recall request accepted by the Bank of France in accordance with the first part, Article 17, a fee of 0.001 EUR is charged both to the holder of the TIPS account via a debit and to the holder of the TIPS account or SE technical TIPS account via a credit, regardless of the settlement of the instant payment order or the positive response to a recall request; d) No fee is charged for liquidity transfer orders from TIPS accounts to MCAs, RTGS accounts, sub-accounts, current deposit accounts, SE technical TIPS accounts, and T2S accounts."

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

  1. Until 31 December 2023, the following fees apply: a) The fees for the use by an SE of the SE TIPS settlement procedure are charged to the party indicated in the following table:
ElementRule AppliedFee per element (EUR)
Settled instant payment orderParty to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a debit0.002
Unsettled instant payment orderParty to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a debit0.002
Positive settled response to a recall requestParty to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a credit0.002
Positive unsettled response to a recall requestParty to be invoiced: the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a credit0.002

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.

  1. With effect from 1 January 2024, the fees for the use by an SE of the SE TIPS settlement procedure are charged as follows: a) For each SE technical TIPS account, a fixed monthly fee of 3,000 EUR is charged to the holder of the SE technical TIPS account; b) For each reachable party designated by the holder of the SE technical TIPS account, up to a maximum of 50 reachable parties, a fixed monthly fee of 20 EUR is charged to the holder of the SE technical TIPS account that designated it. No fee is charged for the fifty-first reachable party or for subsequent reachable parties; c) For each instant payment order or positive response to a recall request accepted by the Bank of France in accordance with the first part, Article 17, a fee of 0.001 EUR is charged both to the holder of the SE technical TIPS account via a debit and to the holder of the SE technical TIPS account or TIPS account via a credit, regardless of the settlement of the instant payment order or the positive response to a recall request; d) No fee is charged for liquidity transfer orders from SE technical TIPS accounts to TIPS accounts; e) 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. 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 unit fee per settled instant payment, settled quasi-instant payment, or settled positive response to a recall request for the previous month in accordance with the following table:
Declared Underlying Gross VolumeFromToUnit Fee
010,000,0000.00040 €
10,000,00125,000,0000.00030 €
25,000,001100,000,0000.00020 €
100,000,0010.00015 €
  1. Point 54) of Appendix VIII is replaced by the following text:

"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

  1. This Decision is published in the Official Publication Register of the Bank of France.
  2. It enters into force on 20 November 2023.
  3. This Decision is applicable in the overseas departments and regions, in Saint-Barthélemy, in Saint-Martin, in Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, as well as in the Principality of Monaco.

Done in Paris, on 20 November 2023

The Governor of the Bank of France François VILLEROY de GALHAU