ECB pushes ahead with plan to interlink Europe’s real-time payments

The European Central Bank (ECB) is accelerating its plans to interlink Europe’s real-time payments infrastructure with fast payment systems overseas, marking an important step in reshaping cross-border transfers between Europe and key international corridors.

Plan to interlink Europe’s real-time payments

The Governing Council has confirmed it will move into the realisation phase of connecting the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) platform with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), while continuing work on a potential integration with the multilateral Nexus Global Payments scheme.

The move follows positive findings from exploratory work launched in late 2024, which assessed technical feasibility, operational alignment and regulatory considerations.

By pushing forward, the ECB is signalling its intent to make instant, low-cost, transparent cross-border payments a core feature of Europe’s financial ecosystem — and strengthen the euro’s relevance in global payment flows.

Connecting TIPS and UPI: High-Volume Corridor

The TIPS–UPI linkage has been prioritised given the strategic importance of the Europe–India payments corridor.

UPI, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, processes one of the world’s highest volumes of real-time transactions.

India is also among the top ten destinations for remittances originating from the euro area, underscoring the economic value of a direct instant payment channel.

The realisation phase will cover the legal framework, governance arrangements and technical implementation needed to operationalise the corridor.

When completed, the connection will allow senders and recipients in both regions to exchange payments instantly, with predictable fees and improved transparency — a notable improvement on the legacy correspondent banking chains that currently underpin many Europe–India transfers.

Nexus and the Longer-Term Global Strategy

Alongside progress on UPI, the ECB will continue examining the potential of linking TIPS to Nexus Global Payments, a multilateral scheme designed to connect fast payment systems across Asia.

Managed by Nexus Global Payments Ltd., the initiative will initially bring together the domestic real-time rails of Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and India.

Born out of work by the BIS Innovation Hub in Singapore, Nexus aims to simplify cross-border payments by creating a shared technical and governance model.

The ECB has also begun evaluating a connection between TIPS and Switzerland’s Interbank Clearing Instant Payments platform, launched as a separate workstream earlier this year.

Collectively, these initiatives align with the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy and directly support the G20 roadmap to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more inclusive.

A More Connected Payments Landscape

Linking Europe’s instant payment backbone with major global systems has broader geopolitical implications.

It enhances the euro’s international utility, promotes competition in cross-border transfers and supports businesses as they expand across borders.

For consumers, particularly migrant communities, the prospect of real-time remittances at lower cost marks a welcome shift.

The long-term ambition is clear: a network of interoperable instant payment corridors that allows money to move across borders as efficiently as it does within them. The ECB’s latest decision brings that vision another step closer.