TIPS onboarding
Are you looking for a way to offer instant payments to all your customers? TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) ensures that payments reach any recipient in Europe within seconds, irrespective of the opening hours of their local bank.
Choices to be made before starting the onboarding process
- How to participate: Join TIPS as direct participant (with your own TIPS account) or as a reachable party (able to settle payments via a direct participant’s account).
- How to exchange SCT Inst payment transaction messages with the TIPS platform: Banks and other PSPs can either be in control of the messaging exchange themselves or delegate it to an “instructing party” of their choice.
- What application channel to use: By default, TIPS is accessed using an application-to-application (A2A) channel. It is also possible to access TIPS via a user-to-application (U2A) channel which offers user-friendly access via a graphical user interface (GUI).
Onboarding process for direct participants
- Preparation: Get in touch with your national central bank (NCB) to request registration forms and documentation. Discuss the options for connecting to TIPS and draw up a plan.
- Connectivity to TIPS: Select the network service provider (NSP) you wish to use to connect to TIPS. Currently, SWIFT and Nexi-Colt (formerly SIA-Colt) are the only NSPs authorised to provide this service. Both have a significant share of the market; check their offer for connectivity services.
- How to establish a connection to TIPS and selecting your NSP: TARGET Services Connectivity Guide
- Registration with the NSP: TIPS Guide for the on-boarding of new customers
- Reference data set-up: NCBs will set up the participants’ reference data in the Common Reference Data Management (CRDM). Set up your message subscription and report configuration.
- Information on how to perform CRDM actions: TIPS User Handbook
- Message subscription and report configuration: TIPS Reference Data Guide
- Testing and certification: Test the system and obtain certification by completing a minimum set of certification test cases. Submit the evidence (screenshots and files) to your NCB, which will issue the TIPS certificate after successful evaluation of the evidence provided. Once certified, you can, together with your NCB, set a date to start using the platform.
- Rules for testing and test approach: TIPS User Testing Terms of Reference (ToR) v1.2
- Description of test cases: TIPS Certification Test Cases
The onboarding process for direct participants illustrated below can be started any time of the year.
Indicative timeline for onboarding to TIPS
Key contacts
- Reach out to your NCB to assist with your onboarding
- Contact TIPS@ecb.europa.eu for questions on the onboarding process