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Operating rules

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Access criteria (as defined in the T2-BF Agreement)

The following entities are eligible for direct participation in T2-BF:

  • credit institutions established in the European Economic Area (EEA), including when they act through a branch established in the EEA or in Monaco;
  • credit institutions established outside the EEA, provided that they act through a branch established in the EEA;
  • NCBs (National Central Banks) of EU (European Union) Member States and the ECB (European Central Bank).

The Banque de France may, at its discretion, also admit the following entities as direct participants:

  • treasury departments of central or regional governments of Member States active in the money markets;

  • public sector bodies of Member States authorised to hold accounts for customers;

  • investment firms established in the EEA;

  • organisations providing clearing or settlement services, that are established in the EEA and are subject to supervision by a competent authority;

  • credit institutions or any of the entities listed under the above points, that are established in a country with which the European Community has entered into a monetary agreement allowing access by any such entities to payment systems in the European Union, subject to the conditions set out in the monetary agreement and provided that the legal regime applying in the country is equivalent to the relevant EU legislation.

In order to qualify as a T2-BF Participant, candidates must meet the following criteria:

Technical criteria Candidates must:

  • install, manage, operate, oversee and guarantee the security of the IT infrastructure necessary to connect to T2-BF and transmit payment orders to it. If the candidate intends to connect to the system via Swift, it must have signed an agreement with Swift;
  • pass the tests specified by the Banque de France.

Legal criteria Candidates must:

  • provide a statement of legal capacity, unless the information and declarations which should be included in this statement have already been furnished to the Banque de France in another context;
  • for credit institutions established outside the EEA and acting through a branch established in the EEA, provide a statement indicating the legal regime applicable in their country (unless the information and declarations which should be included in this statement have already been furnished to the Banque de France in another context);
  • sign the T2-BF agreement with the Banque de France ;
  • complete the registration forms.

 

There are four types of participant

Direct participants:

  • hold a PM account, receive and submit payment orders directly;
  • are responsible for managing the account.

The PM (Payment Module) is the payment system for the single shared platform via which TARGET2 all participant transactions are settled.


Indirect participants:

  • do not hold a PM account;
  • are credit institutions established in the EEA, that have signed an agreement with a direct participant allowing them to submit payment orders and/or receive payments and therefore settle transactions via the PM account of the aforementioned direct participant.


Multi-addressee access:

  • This option allows banks to manage their liquidity centrally, using different addresses to route payments to individual entities and/or branches. The entities or branches in question can channel their payment orders via the direct participant’s PM account, without the participant’s intervention.


Addressable BICs:

  • can only receive or transmit payment orders via a direct participant;
  • legally speaking, they are not regarded as participants as they are attached to a single direct participant and are not subject to any geographic or regulatory limits.

 

There is no upper or lower limit on the number of transactions that can be executed via the system. 

Banks can also maintain cash and minimum reserve accounts in T2-BF (HAM accounts). Legally speaking, holders of HAM accounts are not considered TARGET2 participants. HAM accounts can only be used to carry out the transactions indicated in the table below.

Type of transaction

PM account
(PM module)

HAM account
(HAM module)


Monetary
policy
operations

- Tenders

X

 

- Standing facilities transactions

X

X

- Minimum reserves

X

X

Interbank transfers

X

X

Liquidity transfers

X

X

Customer transfers

X

 

Settlement of ancillary systems

X

 

Cash transactions

X

X

Management of groups of accounts (CAI and AL)

X

 

Billing

X

X

For further details, contact the Interbank Settlements Division (SERI) at seri@banque-france.fr or t2bf-admin@banque-france.fr

 

Updated on: 06/12/2018 10:33