BOV participates in TARGET 2

TARGET2 is one of the largest payment systems in the world with a daily average exceeding three hundred thousand transactions that reached €2.3 billion in 2010. This is another initiative by Bank of Valletta intended to provide straightforward and efficient service to its customers.

BOV will now be affecting same-day high value transfers directly within the euro system through TARGET2. This will allow BOV to directly track the payment to its destination, giving additional assurances that the beneficiary is in receipt of the funds.

Directly benefiting its customers, direct participation in TARGET2 also placed BOV in a position to offer TARGET2 services to other credit institutions both locally and within the European Economic Area.

“Bank of Valletta considers payments to be core to its business and we are very proud to have become TARGET2 direct participants. This is a foundational initiative that continues to consolidate our position in the payments industry and allows us to develop and introduce to the market a number of related innovative payment services. TARGET2 is an important link in our strategy to be the payment institution of choice on the island,” BOV’s Chief Officer of Operations Michael Galea said.

TARGET2 (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system) is a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system adopted by more than 866 direct participants and allows payment transactions to be settled on a continuous basis. TARGET2 is accessible to a large number of participants and most credit institutions use it to make payments on their own behalf or on behalf of other (indirect) participants.

Over 50,000 banks worldwide (and their customers) can be addressed via TARGET2.