The European Central Bank welcomes the Bulgarian market to the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service following its successful migration in December 2024.
The Bulgarian National Bank and the BISERA payment system, which is operated by BORICA AD, are now part of TIPS, together with two banks, namely First Investment Bank AD and Central Cooperative Bank AD.
Additional Bulgarian payment service providers “are expected to onboard to TIPS in 2025.”
The move reportedly supports Bulgaria’s plan to join the euro area.
As mentioned in the update, individuals and businesses with accounts at the Bulgarian banks that have joined TIPS can now “instantly transfer payments in euro to any other TIPS participant.”
TIPS is the Eurosystem’s platform for settling instant payments in central bank money, “operating around the clock, every day of the year.”
Banks and payment service providers can join TIPS in one of the following two ways: (i) as a participant, by opening a TIPS account; or (ii) as a reachable party, by entering into a contractual agreement with a participant.
As covered last month, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Norges Bank signed an agreement for Norway to join the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service.
This will reportedly make the Norwegian krone the fourth currency available for settlement in TIPS, along with the euro, the Swedish krona and the Danish krone, which is “scheduled to join in April 2025.”
The inclusion of the Norwegian krone in TIPS, which is part of the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, is planned for the first half of 2028 and will enable market participants in Norway to “settle payments instantly, around the clock and in central bank money.”
Norwegian citizens and businesses will therefore become “part of the European community of TIPS service users.”
The work towards implementing a cross-currency settlement service in TIPS, allowing funds to be transferred “between all TIPS currencies, will also encompass the Norwegian krone.”
ECB President Christine Lagarde after signing the agreement said that they are pleased that Norway will “use the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement service for instant payments in Norwegian krone.”
Lagarde also noted that Norway is the first non-European Union country of the European Economic Area to “join one of the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services. It is an indication of the strengthened economic relations across Europe and the attractiveness of TIPS.”