Romania to join the Target 2 system for inter-banking payments in euro; transfer fees expected to drop

The Romanian Central Bank (BNR) will on July 4 launch the Target 2 Romania payment system for banks, which is one of the essential pre-conditions for the country to adopt the euro currency. The Target 2 payment system will include 22 banks in Romania, according to Sabin Carantină, the head of the BNR payment direction, quoted by Mediafax. The system will allow BNR to implement the single monetary policy of the Eurosystem, which connects all central banks in eurozone member states. Banks that will use the new system will have lower fees for payments, as well as more rapid payments in euro. The system could trigger more competitive euro payments services and a drop in bank commissions for transfers in euro. The maximum commission paid by a bank in this new system will be of EUR 0.8 per transaction, depending on the commission option and the volume of transactions the bank makes. The banks which will join the Target 2 – Romania system in a first phase are Alpha Bank Romania, ATE Bank România, CR Firenze Romania, Banca Comercială Carpatica, Banca Comercială Feroviara, Banca de Export Import a României EXIMBANK, Banca Transilvania, Bank Leumi România, CEC Bank, Citibank, Credit Europe Bank (Romania), Emporiki Bank -Romania, Garanti Bank, Libra Bank, Marfin Bank (Romania), MKB Romexterra Bank, OTP Bank România, Piraeus Bank România, ProCredit Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, RBS Bank Romania, UniCredit Ţiriac Bank. The banks which have not joined the system will continue to process payments in euro through their corresponding banks or mother banks abroad. The Target 2 system is mainly destined for the transfer of large sums in euro, but smaller payments will also be carried through. In Europe, around 60 percent of the payments through the system are small value ones. Target 2 is one of the first three payment systems in the world, together with Fedwire and CLS. editor@romania-insider.com (pgoto source: Sxc.hu)