The Riksbank is inviting Swedish banks to participate in the ongoing work to enable instant cross-currency payments within Europe via the Target Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system.

This cooperation will include discussions on the design of the TIPS cross-currency service and actual testing of it.

The ECB, the Riksbank and Danmarks Nationalbank have been working together for some time on the initiative to facilitate instant payments between currencies. Initially, payments will be possible between euros, Swedish kronor and Danish kroner. The central banks provide the underlying infrastructure for the payments. Banks and businesses, in turn, need to develop services to enable instant cross-currency payments to be made by businesses and individuals.

“The Riksbank has long been working to make it easier to make payments between different currencies. In addition, the G20 has a global goal of making cross-currency payments more secure, more efficient and cheaper. The work on TIPS cross-currency is an important step towards making this a reality but it also requires cooperation between central banks and the market. We are therefore keen for Swedish banks to express their interest in participating in this work,” says Per Jansson, Deputy Governor of the Riksbank.

In 2028, Norges Bank is planning to join TIPS, opening up the possibility that TIPS cross-currency may also support payments in Norwegian kroner in the future. At the same time, the ECB is exploring the possibility of enabling payments between currencies outside Europe by linking TIPS with other similar international instant payment systems.

Banks can express their interest in participating in the cooperation by signing a Letter of Intent. The deadline for replies is 28 February 2025. For more information on the service and how banks can register their interest, see the attached links in the RELATED CONTENT section.

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Related content

Annex: Call for Expression of Interest  (pdf | 1,1 MB)

Annex: Template Letter of Intent  (pdf | 372,6 kB)