TIPS will enable banks to settle instant payments in central bank money within a few seconds of initiation and around the clock. Designed as an extension to TARGET2 - the real-time gross settlement system for payments in euro - the innovative service will have pan-European reach.

The ECB indicated in June 2017 that the service would be offered to banks at the low price of a maximum of 0.2 euro cent (€0.002) per payment for at least the first two years of operation. The Governing Council has since decided that the price per initiated transaction should be set at €0.002 for the first two years of operation. It has also decided that the first ten million payments settled on each TIPS account before the end of 2019 will be free of charge.

The project is progressing as planned; the results of ongoing internal tests show that all TIPS’ core software functionalities are operating smoothly. The first participants will begin testing the service in late August before its launch on 30 November.