To give just one example, the newly released SEPA instant credit transfer scheme that enables transfers of up to € in less than ten seconds will benefit as of November 2018 from the TARGET instant payment settlement (TIPS) service ensuring pan-European reach of instant payments.
With the scheme layer and the clearing and settlement layer in place, it provides a good opportunity for fintechs to build efficient and innovative end-user solutions. The ECB is also investigating the potential of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in the context of our real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system.