About the Public Consultation Results on Extending the Operation Time of T2

May 2026 Contents 1Executive summary 2.1Objectives of the consultation2.2Current T2 operating hours 3Analysis of responses 3.1Number of responses and representativeness3.2Methodology 5 Executive summary In June 2025 the Eurosystem initiated a public market consultation to explore thepotential extension of the operating hours of T2, its real-time gross settlement(RTGS) system that is part of the TARGET Services. T2 operating hours werealready extended in 2023,and currently T2 is open from Monday to Friday for 22.5 This consultation, which was part of a broader engagement with the paymentsindustry, aimed to assess current and emerging market demands while identifyingpotential challenges associated with extending T2 operating hours. The Eurosystem This report summarises the outcome of the market consultation and outlines the The consultation clearly revealed that the most pressing reason for extending T2operating hours is the need to improve liquidity management for instant payments,given their growing adoption, and also for continuously-operating future services like Respondents expressed a preference for a phased-in approach to extending theservice’s operating hours, starting with liquidity management improvements beforegradually progressing towards a full 24/7 operational model in the medium to longterm. Notably,preferences regarding the latter varied among participants. Whilethere was no immediate demand for changes to the TARGET Services main cut-off Extending RTGS operating hours does present some challenges, however.Concerns were raised about the costs associated with the IT system upgrades,liquidity automation and additional staff that would be needed. Additionally, systems remain operational but traditional funding sources like money markets areunavailable–for instance, at weekends and/or during current TARGET holidays.The Eurosystem will carefully weigh up these costs and risks against the benefits of To address the immediate liquidity management challenges associated with instantpayments, the Eurosystem plans to implement three measures. First, starting on 17June 2026, liquidity held overnight in TARGET accounts (including TIPS dedicatedcash accounts (DCAs)) exceeding the minimum reserve requirement will beautomatically remunerated, thereby reducing the need for temporary liquiditytransfers outside of TIPS for remuneration purposes. Second, to improve liquidity Looking ahead, the Eurosystem is considering additional measures to further extendoperating hours in the medium to long term, encompassing the RTGS system and,progressively, other TARGET Services. These measures include (i) opening centralliquidity management (CLM) close to 24/7, (ii) opening RTGS near 24/5, (iii) limitedadjustments to end-of-day cut-off times and (iv) weekend openings for ECMS. Background information 2 2.1Objectivesof the consultation In June 2025 the ECB launched a public consultation on the potential furtherextension of the operating hours of the T2 service, the Eurosystem’s real-time grosssettlement (RTGS) system, which is part of TARGET. T2 encompasses two majorcomponents. First,the RTGS component enables the settlement of high-value The CLM component currently operates for 22.5 hours during working days, but isclosed for 48 consecutive hours during weekends. After T2 was introduced in 2023,RTGS operating hours were already extended to 15.5 hours per working day forcustomer and interbank payments, up from 11 hours under its predecessor system,TARGET2. This notwithstanding, a further extension of operating hours is currently Theconsultation paper2comprised 23 questions designed to engage the industry inan open dialogue onthemarket needs and constraintsrelated to apotentialextension of T2 operating hours. The goal wastoensure thatanyfuture proposalsfor such an extension would becarefullydesigned to strike an optimalbalance 2.2Current T2 operating hours Following the launch of T2 in March 2023, T2 and T2S are open from Monday toFriday and closed on Saturdays, Sundays and six holidays per year3. T2 has Liquidity management is already possible in the CLM for 22.5 hours a day duringweekdays, i.e. Monday to Friday. However, no liquidity transfers via CLM are In the RTGS component, customer and interbank payments can be settled duringweekdays between 02:30 and 18:00. RTGS remains closed for payments atweekends, starting from Fridays at 18:00 until Monday at 02:30, and on TARGET Meanwhile, TIPS operates on a 24/7/365 basis. While instant payment processing iscontinuous, funding and defunding TIPS accounts from other accounts in TARGETServices can only take place when CLM is open for settlement of liquidity transfer Extending RTGS systems operating hours–the The consultation is part of a broader move towards extending RTGS systemsoperating hours, which can be observed in other major economies. Since the G20identified extending RTGS systems operating hours as a priority in its roadmap tomake cross-borde