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Instant Payments

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At a glance

DIAS’ participation in the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service

Instant payments are low-value electronic payments that enable the immediate transfer of funds (within up to 10 seconds) from the payer to the beneficiary, at any time (24/7/365).
TIPS is the settlement service launched by the Eurosystem in November 2018 to ensure pan-European accessibility to instant payments.
This means that, through TIPS, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) can offer fully interoperable, pan-European instant payments to their customers, allowing individuals and businesses to transfer money within seconds, regardless of PSP operating hours.

TIPS is based on the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme of the European Payments Council. It is environmentally friendly (with extremely low CO₂ emissions) and compliant with the Eurosystem’s strict oversight requirements regarding the resilience of financial market infrastructures against cyber threats.

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In July 2020, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided to expand the scope of TIPS, allowing ancillary systems offering instant payment services (in Greece, DIAS) to participate in TIPS.

Technical Connectivity Options

A PSP may connect to the TIPS infrastructure:

  1. Directly, using a Network Service Provider acting on its behalf, or
  2. Indirectly, via the services of an Instructing Party (such as DIAS).

To implement its participation in TIPS, DIAS decided in January 2021 to:

  1. Join the European group of Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms processing SCT Inst payments, in accordance with the specifications of the European Payments Council
  2. Open a Technical Account in TIPS (as an Ancillary System Party)
  3. Support PSPs as an Instructing Party, providing economies of scale

Since 10 December 2021, DIAS—working in full cooperation with the Bank of Greece (operator of the Greek component of TARGET) and the domestic financial sector—has been connected to TIPS.

As a result, payment service users in Greece can now send and receive both domestic and cross-border instant payments under harmonised rules and standards.
This makes instant payments more user-friendly and sets the foundation for their wider adoption as a mainstream payment method.

For more information, you may refer to the official websites of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Greece.