TARGET2, the single shared platform for the settlement in real time of predominantly high-value euro payments in central bank money, was successfully launched on 19 November 2007. With this third migration, TARGET2 has now fully replaced the decentralised technical platforms operating under the name TARGET (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system).
TARGET2 is an integrated market solution provided by the Eurosystem, the central banking system of the euro area consisting of the ECB and the national central banks of the EU Member States that have adopted the euro as their common currency. TARGET2 is run by the Eurosystem under the responsibility of the Governing Council of the ECB. Three Eurosystem central banks - the Banca d'Italia, the Banque de France and the Deutsche Bundesbank - jointly provide the single technical infrastructure, called the single shared platform (SSP) of TARGET2, and operate it on behalf of the Eurosystem.
More detailed information on TARGET2 can be found on the ECB's website at http://www.ecb.europa.eu/....