Challenges for EU payment system initiatives

The two key payment system initiatives in the European Union, TARGET2 and SEPA, are not progressing as planned, which poses challenges also to the Baltic countries. Sweden will disconnect from TARGET and acquire a new real-time gross settlement system (RTGS). In Estonia a new retail payment system, ESTA, was introduced. DVP links have been established between the central securities depositories of the Baltic countries. VP Securities Services of Denmark has lengthened its clearing and settlement day. In its assessment based on the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) for Norway, the IMF recommends that Norway upgrade the risk management of its securities clearing and settlement system.