13 ) seeks to enhance the existing payments ecosystem by pursuing interlinking of payment systems for cross - border payments. in this regard, the bank of italy is conducting a feasibility study for interlinking tips with buna ips, the cross - border and multi - currency payment system owned by the arab monetary fund. the findings of the feasibility study should pave the way for a deeper level of cooperation with noneuro central banks. cross - border payments is not the only area where digitalization is posing challenges. the safety of central bank money and changing consumer attitudes to digital means of payment is another. to ensure that consumers continue to have unfettered access to central bank money in a way that meets their needs in the digital age, the ecb decided to advance work on the possible issuance of a digital euro and started a preliminary analysis of potential solutions for the technical implementation of a central bank digital currency ( cbdc ) from the perspective of the eurosystem. in this context, the bank of italy is currently cooperating with the ecb and the euroarea national central banks to assess the potential of tips as a possible technical solution for a digital euro. indeed, with its speed, cost - efficiency and high scalability, tips is best placed to meet the basic requirements laid down by the eurosystem for a digital euro, 5 allowing the processing of one billion transactions per day and the management of hundreds of millions of accounts. important innovations are under way in tips. the ecb and the bank of italy are in the process of developing a roadmap to upgrade tips from an evolutional, operational resilience, and financial perspective. the roadmap will identify priority action areas and set objectives, balancing the need to enable tips to handle new business cases and to ensure its operational resilience, also in view of the increase in the volume of transactions as a result of the reachability measures ’ implementation. * * * by way of conclusion, please allow me to express my gratitude to all the bank of italy and ecb colleagues who will make contributions to this seminar, and who will share their knowledge and experience with you. i am sure that this exchange of information will prove extremely useful for understanding the complexity of the current transformation of the payment industry but also just how committed the eurosystem is to supporting the digitalization of the european economy and to actively encouraging innovation in retail payments. once again, let me extend our welcome to everyone who has joined us here today

piero cipollone : tips ( target instant payment settlement ) - the new eurosystem market infrastructure service – banca d ’ italia as service provider and manager of the business relationships with the financial community welcoming remarks by mr piero cipollone, deputy governor of the bank of italy, at tips webinar, bank of italy, 12 july 2021. * * * it is a great pleasure to welcome you here today to this seminar on target instant payment settlement ( tips ), the eurosystem market infrastructure for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money. the seminar will illustrate the architecture and functioning of the platform developed by the bank of italy on behalf of the eurosystem, and its contribution to retail payments market innovation in europe. tips was launched in 2018 and allows transactions to be settled in central bank money across europe within seconds. in launching tips, the eurosystem acknowledged that the capacity to transfer funds in a matter of seconds is a powerful one, and has great potential with respect to traditional credit transfers. the implementation of the system was carried out by the 4cbs – the central banks of france, germany, italy and spain, which are the providers of the eurosystem market infrastructures. the bank of italy, in particular, was responsible for developing the service and it was also entrusted with the task of operating the platform. from the 4cbs ’ perspective, tips represents a break with the past as well as increasing awareness of the fact that digitalization is blurring the lines between wholesale and retail. before tips, eurosystem projects such as target2 and target2 - securities ( t2s ) were designed to promote integration and harmonization of market infrastructures within the euro area, meeting the needs of financial market operators, depositories and large custodian banks. with tips, the eurosystem has provided the european financial community with an infrastructure designed to support the provision of innovative, customer - friendly retail payment solutions for the benefit of european citizens. in fact, tips was developed with the aim of fostering the integration of retail payment services and of eliminating barriers due to a lack of interoperability between different settlement platforms based on the sepa instant credit transfer ( sct inst ) scheme – i. e. the standard tips ( target instant payment settlement ) – the new eurosystem market infrastructure service : banca d ’ italia as service provider and manager of the business relationships with the financial community welcoming remarks by piero cipollone