In its second progress report on Target2, the ECB says the November 2007 go-live date ensures that banks will have enough time to prepare for the testing and switchover to the single shared platform.

All Eurosystem central banks will connect to the Target2 clearing and settlement system. Eurozone countries will be split into three groups, each with a different migration date, and all countries expected to be using Target2 by the end of May 2008.

But the ECB says a pricing scheme for the Target2 core service still hasn't been decided and further discussions will take place with the banking community.

Based on the forecasts of costs and volumes associated with Target2, the ECB's pricing proposal allows participants to choose between a monthly fee of EUR100 plus a flat rate of EUR0.80 and a monthly fee of EUR1250 plus a volume-based degressive fee ranging from EUR0.60 to EUR0.20.

The eurosystem says it has been agreed that all central banks, irrespective of their individual migration dates, will apply Target2 prices when countries in the third migration group join the shared platform, i.e. 19 May 2008.

Further information on the pricing structure will be given in the next Target2 progress report.