THE ordinary bank transfers they will suffer one suspension from 2 to 7 April in all adopting EU countries the euro as a currency. Not there is nothing of which worry in reality: it is not a technical problem, but a break already scheduled that the platform Target2, which regulates transfers between European banking institutions of the Eurosystem.
This suspension had already been established for some time, as also confirmed by the European Central Bank which several months ago published a calendar with all the dates of suspension of the service, which also include the Easter holidays.
This “block”, in reality, it will be in force from 3 April (Good Friday) to 6 April (Easter Monday) inclusive: since the system closes the working day at 6:00 pm, all ordinary transfers entered after 6:00 pm on April 2nd will be executed on the morning of April 7th.
However, during this time period, ordinary transfers will not be cancelled, but simply suspended and processed when the platform is reactivated. This pause, however, risks lengthening the crediting times of salaries, pensions and scheduled payments. However, the dei option remains active instant transferswhich will continue to operate 24 hours a day.
Why this “blockade” was planned and the alternatives
As also reported by the Bank of Italy, i ordinary bank transfers, i.e. those that take a few days to process, consist of a series of steps that require regulation between banks. The whole process happens through Target2 (acronym for Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system), the platform that allows credit institutions to exchange money in euros in direct and safe wayregulating transactions between banks. In the event that the system stops or does not work, however, this final regulation cannot take place and the transition remains suspended, only to be completed on the first available day.
This is exactly what will happen during these Easter holidays: the money will not be blocked, the transfer will simply be suspended and then executed on April 7th.
Given its importance, however, the platform is subjected to periodic maintenance interventions “with the aim of improving the services offered and introducing new technical and business features”, which are scheduled during the holidays, when the flow of bank transfers tends to be lower.
In any case, for those who need to make bank transfers during these dates, there are still some alternatives: more specifically, the suspension will only block ordinary transfers, while instant ones will continue to work. This is because i instant transfers – which since last year have had the same cost as ordinary ones – remain operational because they use a different platform, the TIPS, which is active 24 hours a day. Likewise, the monetary transfers between accounts of the same bankwho do not use the system for Target2.
The calendar of the next suspensions according to the ECB
Both the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank report the calendar of events on their websites suspensions of the Target2 platform, which is operational from Monday to Friday, except on the following days:
- January 1st (New Year).
- Easter Friday (Easter Friday).
- Easter Monday.
- May 1st (Workers’ Day).
- December 25 (Christmas).
- 26 December (Boxing Day).
In the early hours of April 7, at the end of the system suspension, all accumulated operations will be processed: the platform is still designed to handle large volumes of traffic, although it may suffer from slowdowns. The advice, at this point, is to plan ordinary bank transfers in advance or, possibly, resort to the option of instant bank transfers.
