— ‘NCBs’ shall mean the national central banks of participating Member States,

— ‘national RTGS systems’ shall mean those RTGS systems which are component parts of TARGET as identified in Annex I to this Guideline,

— ‘ECB payment mechanism’ shall mean the payment arrangements organised within the ECB and connected to TARGET for the purpose of effecting (i) payments between accounts held at the ECB; and (ii) payments through TARGET between accounts held at the ECB and at the NCBs,

— ‘interlinking’ shall mean the technical infrastructures, design features and procedures which are put in place within, or constitute adaptations of, each national RTGS system and the ECB payment mechanism for the purpose of processing cross-border payments within TARGET,

— ‘non-participating Member States’ shall mean the Member States which have not adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty,

— ‘EEA’ shall mean the European Economic Area as defined in the Agreement on the European Economic Area concluded on 2 May 1992 between the European Community and its Member States and the Member States of the European Free Trade Association ( 2 ),

— ‘participants’ or ‘direct participants’ shall mean the entities which have direct access to a national RTGS system and have an RTGS account with the NCB concerned (or, in the case of the ECB payment mechanism, with the ECB) and shall include such NCB or the ECB, whether in its capacity as settlement agent or otherwise,

— ‘public sector body’ shall mean an entity within the ‘public sector’ as defined in Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 specifying definitions for the application of the prohibitions referred to in Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty ( 3 ) ,

— ‘investment firm’ shall mean an investment firm as defined in Article 4(1)(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments amending Council Directives 85/611/EEC and 93/6/EEC and Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC ( 4 ) with the exclusion of the entities mentioned in Article 2(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, provided that the investment firm in question is entitled to carry out the activities referred to under items 2, 3, 6 and 7 of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2004/39/EC,

— ‘RTGS rules’ shall mean the regulations and/or contractual provisions which apply to a national RTGS system,

— ‘Eurosystem’ shall mean the ECB and the national central banks of the Member States which have adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty,

— ‘cross-border payments’ shall mean payments effected or to be effected between two national RTGS systems or between a national RTGS system and the ECB payment mechanism,

— ‘domestic payments’ shall mean payments effected or to be effected within one national RTGS system or within the ECB payment mechanism,

— ‘payment order’ shall mean an instruction by a participant in accordance with the applicable RTGS rules to place at the disposal of a receiving participant, including an NCB or the ECB, an amount of money by means of a book entry on an RTGS account,

— ‘sending participant’ shall mean the participant which has initiated a payment by giving a payment order,

— ‘sending NCB/ECB’ shall mean the ECB or the NCB at which the sending participant maintains its RTGS account,

— ‘intraday credit’ shall mean credit extended and reimbursed within a period of less than one business day,

— ‘RTGS account’ shall mean an account (or, to the extent permitted in accordance with the relevant RTGS rules in question, any group of consolidated accounts, provided that all such account holders are jointly and severally liable vis-à-vis the RTGS system in case of default) opened in the name of a participant on the books of an NCB or the ECB on which domestic payments and/or cross-border payments are settled,

— ‘blocking-of-funds procedure’ shall mean the procedure according to which funds on deposit or available credit are earmarked and made unavailable for any transaction or purpose other than the execution of the payment order concerned, in order to ensure that the earmarked funds or available credit will be used for the execution of such payment order; the earmarking of funds or available credit is referred to in this Guideline as ‘blocking’,

— ‘marginal lending facility’ shall mean the marginal lending facility organised by the Eurosystem,

— ‘marginal lending rate’ shall mean the interest rate applicable from time to time for the Eurosystem marginal lending facility,

— ‘remote participant’ shall mean an institution established in an EEA country which participates directly in a national RTGS system of an (other) EU Member State (host Member State) and, for that purpose, has an RTGS account in euro in its own name with the NCB of the host Member State, without necessarily having established a branch in the host Member State, whereby a ‘branch’ shall mean a branch as defined in Article 1(3) of Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions ( 5 ),

— ‘inter-NCB accounts’ shall mean the accounts that, without prejudice to Article 4a of this Guideline, each NCB and the ECB shall open for each other on their respective books for the operation of cross-border TARGET payments, each such inter-NCB account being held for the benefit of the ECB or the NCB in whose name the account is opened,

— ‘receiving NCB/ECB’ shall mean the ECB or the NCB at which the receiving participant maintains its RTGS account,

— ‘receiving participant’ shall mean the participant designated by the sending participant as the participant to whose RTGS account the amount specified in the relevant payment order shall be credited,

— ‘finality’ or ‘final’ shall mean that the settlement of a payment order cannot be revoked, reversed or made void by the connected NCB, by the sending NCB/ECB, by the sending participant or by any third party, or even in the event of insolvency proceedings against a participant, except in cases of imperfections in the underlying transaction(s) or payment order(s) arising from criminal offences or fraudulent acts (whereby fraudulent acts shall also include preferences and transactions at undervalue during suspect periods in the case of insolvency) provided that such has been decided on a case-by-case basis by a court of competent jurisdiction or another competent dispute resolution body, or arising from error,

— ‘network service provider’ shall mean the undertaking appointed by the ECB to provide computerised network connections for interlinking,

— ‘service-providing NCB’ shall mean an NCB: (i) the RTGS system of which is connected to TARGET via interlinking; and (ii) which provides services to a connected NCB for the processing of cross-border payments within TARGET, thereby establishing a bilateral link,

— ‘connected NCB’ shall mean an NCB the RTGS system of which is connected to TARGET via a service-providing NCB,

— ‘malfunctioning of a national RTGS system’ or ‘malfunctioning of TARGET’ or ‘malfunctioning’ shall mean technical difficulties, defects or failures in the technical infrastructure and/or the computer systems of any national RTGS system or the ECB payment mechanism or the computerised network connections for interlinking or a bilateral link, or any other event related to any national RTGS system or the ECB payment mechanism, interlinking or any bilateral link, that makes it impossible to execute and complete the same day processing of payment orders within TARGET; the definition shall also cover cases where a malfunctioning occurs simultaneously in more than one national RTGS system (due to, for instance, a breakdown related to the network service provider),

— ‘indirect participant’ shall mean an institution without its own RTGS account which is nevertheless recognised by a national RTGS system and subject to its RTGS rules and which can be directly addressed in TARGET; all transactions of an indirect participant are settled on the account of a participant (as defined in this Article) which has accepted to represent the indirect participant,

— ‘participating Member States’ shall mean Member States which have adopted the single currency in accordance with the Treaty,

— ‘deposit facility’ shall mean the deposit facility organised by the Eurosystem,

— ‘remote NCB’ shall mean an NCB which does not operate its own RTGS system but remotely participates in the RTGS system of another NCB in accordance with the provisions of Article 2(3),

— ‘host NCB’ shall mean the NCB that permits a remote NCB to participate in its RTGS system in accordance with Article 2(3).

— the host NCB shall grant the remote NCB unlimited and uncollateralised credit,

— the host NCB and the remote NCB may agree on terms and conditions that complement the RTGS rules of the host NCB’s RTGS system,

— the remote NCB shall grant intraday credit to entities in its Member State participating in the host NCB’s RTGS system in accordance with the requirements of Article 3(f),

— payments between entities in the remote NCB’s Member State and between such entities and other participants in the host NCB’s RTGS system shall be considered as domestic payments for the purposes of pricing and other relevant matters, while payments between entities in the remote NCB's Member State and participants in an RTGS system other than the host NCB's RTGS system shall be considered as cross-border payments for such purposes,

— the remote NCB may appoint its representatives to the bodies referred to in Article 7(2) and may nominate a person or persons to undertake the functions specified in Article 7(3).

1. Only supervised credit institutions, as defined in Article 1(1) of Directive 2000/12/EC, which are established in the EEA, shall be admitted as participants in a national RTGS system. As an exception, and without prejudice to Article 7(1) of this Guideline, the following entities may also be admitted as participants in a national RTGS system upon approval by the relevant NCB:

2. The criteria for access to a national RTGS system and the procedure for the assessment thereof shall be set out in the RTGS rules concerned and be made available to interested parties. In addition to the criteria mentioned in Article 3(a)(1), these national criteria may include, inter alia:

The RTGS rules shall also require that legal opinions, based on the Eurosystem's harmonised terms of reference for legal opinions, shall be obtained in respect of applicants for review by the relevant NCB as determined and specified by the Governing Council of the ECB. The terms of reference for legal opinions shall be made available by the respective NCB to interested parties.

3. A participant in a national RTGS system pursuant to this Article 3(a)(1) and (2) shall have access to the cross-border payment facilities of TARGET.

4. RTGS rules shall contain the grounds and procedures for removing a participant from the national RTGS system concerned. The grounds for removing a participant from a national RTGS system (by way of suspension or expulsion) shall cover any event which entails systemic risk or could otherwise cause serious operational problems, including:

5. In addition to the above, entities of the types listed in Article 3(a)(1) which are established in a country with which the Community has entered into a monetary agreement may also be admitted as participants in a national RTGS system. Such access shall only be given where it is provided for in the relevant monetary agreement and shall be subject to the conditions set out therein. Where relevant, and subject to the individual monetary agreements, the ECB may also at its discretion determine, on a case-by-case basis, appropriate conditions as to participation in TARGET. These conditions may, inter alia, be that it shall be evidenced to the ECB's satisfaction that relevant aspects of the legal regime applying in the country in which the entity that wishes to participate is established are equivalent to relevant Community legislation.

1. The pricing policy of the TARGET system shall be determined by the Governing Council of the ECB with reference to the principles of cost recovery, transparency and non-discrimination.

2. Domestic payments in euro effected through the national RTGS system shall be subject to the pricing rules of the national RTGS system concerned, which, in turn, shall respect the policy on pricing set out in Annex II.

3. Any cross-border payments effected within TARGET shall be subject to a common price established by the Governing Council of the ECB and specified in Annex III.

4. Prices shall be made available to interested parties.

1. Operating days

TARGET as a whole shall be closed on Saturdays, Sundays, New Year's Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday (according to the calendar applicable at the seat of the ECB), 1 May (Labour Day), Christmas Day and 26 December.

2. Hours of operation

The hours of operation of national RTGS systems shall comply with the specifications set out in Annex IV.

1. All payments directly resulting from or made in connection with (i) monetary policy operations; (ii) the settlement of the euro leg of foreign exchange operations involving the Eurosystem; and (iii) the settlement of cross-border large-value netting systems handling euro transfers shall be effected through TARGET. Other payments may also be effected through TARGET.

2. A national RTGS system and the ECB payment mechanism shall not process a payment order unless sufficient funds are available on the account of the sending participant with the sending NCB/ECB, either through immediately available funds already credited to that account, through the intraday mobilisation of reserves maintained to fulfil reserve requirements or through intraday credit granted by such NCB/ECB, as the case may be, to that participant in accordance with Article 3(f).

3. RTGS rules and the rules for the ECB payment mechanism shall specify the point in time at which payment orders become irrevocable, which must not be later than the point in time at which the RTGS account of the sending participant held at the sending NCB/ECB is debited with the amount concerned. Where national RTGS systems apply a blocking-of-funds procedure before debiting the RTGS account, such irrevocability shall be provided from that earlier point in time at which blocking takes place.

1. Subject to the provisions of this Guideline, each NCB shall provide intraday credit to the supervised credit institutions referred to in Article 3(a) participating in the national RTGS system of such NCB provided that any such credit institution is an eligible counterparty for Eurosystem monetary policy operations and has access to the marginal lending facility, except if such credit institution's access to intraday credit has been suspended further to the procedures as set out in this Guideline. Provided that it is a clear condition that intraday credit shall remain limited to the day in question and that no extension to overnight credit shall be possible, intraday credit may also be granted to:

2. Each NCB shall provide intraday credit by means of collateralised intraday overdrafts at the NCB and/or intraday repurchase transactions with NCBs in compliance with the criteria laid down below and with the further minimum common features that the Governing Council of the ECB may specify from time to time.

3. Intraday credit shall be based on adequate collateral. Collateral shall be the same assets and instruments and be subject to the same valuation and risk control rules as those prescribed for eligible assets for monetary policy operations. Except for treasury departments and public sector bodies referred to respectively in Article 3(a)(1)(i) and (ii), an NCB shall not accept as underlying assets debt instruments issued or guaranteed by the participant, or by any other entity with which the counterparty has close links, as defined in the General Documentation on Eurosystem Monetary Policy Instruments and procedures and applied for monetary policy operations.

4. The Governing Council of the ECB may exempt treasury departments, referred to in Article 3(a)(1)(i), from the requirement of collateralisation in relation to the provision of intraday credit set out in Article 3(f)(3) upon a proposal from the relevant NCB.

5. Intraday credit provided in accordance with Article 3(f) shall be free of interest.

6. Intraday credit shall not be granted to any remote participant.

7. RTGS rules shall contain the grounds on the basis of which an NCB may suspend or terminate a participant's access to intraday credit. Where an NCB decides to suspend or terminate the access of a counterparty that is eligible for Eurosystem monetary policy operations, the ECB shall approve such decision before it becomes effective. As an exception and under urgent circumstances, an NCB may suspend such monetary policy counterparty's access to intraday credit with immediate effect. In this case the NCB concerned shall immediately notify the ECB of such action in writing and the ECB shall have the power to reverse the NCB's decision. If the NCB does not receive the ECB's decision within ten operating days of the ECB's receipt of notification, however, then the ECB shall be deemed to have approved the NCB's decision. In case of automatic suspension or termination clauses (i.e. automatic events of default for insolvency or similar measures) the NCB concerned shall immediately notify the ECB in writing.

The grounds for such suspension or termination shall cover any event which entails systemic risk or which could otherwise endanger the smooth operation of payment systems, including:

1. The ECB and each of the NCBs shall open an inter-NCB account on their books for each of the other NCBs and for the ECB. In support of entries made on any inter-NCB account, each NCB and the ECB shall grant one another an unlimited and uncollateralised credit facility.

2. To effect a cross-border payment, the sending NCB/ECB shall credit the inter-NCB account of the receiving NCB/ECB held at the sending NCB/ECB; the receiving NCB/ECB shall debit the inter-NCB account of the sending NCB/ECB held at the receiving NCB/ECB.

3. All inter-NCB accounts shall be maintained in euro.

1. Verification

The sending NCB/ECB shall without delay check all details contained in the payment order which are necessary in order for the payment to be executed, in accordance with the technical provisions and specifications referred to in Article 4(a). If syntactical errors or other grounds for rejecting a payment order are detected by the sending NCB/ECB, the latter shall handle the data and the payment order in accordance with the RTGS rules of its national RTGS system. Each payment passing via interlinking shall have a unique identifier to facilitate message identification and error handling.

2. Settlement

As soon as the sending NCB/ECB has checked the validity of a payment order as referred to in Article 4(c)(1), and provided that funds or overdraft facilities are available, the sending NCB/ECB shall without delay:

The point in time at which the sending NCB/ECB has carried out the debiting specified in (a) above shall be referred to as the settlement time. For national RTGS systems which apply a blocking-of-funds procedure, the settlement time shall be the point in time at which blocking takes place as referred to in Article 3(e)(3).

For the purposes of this Guideline, and without prejudice to the provisions regarding irrevocability referred to in Article 3(e)(3), a payment shall become final (as defined in Article 1 of this Guideline) in relation to the sending participant concerned at the settlement time.

1. Verification

The receiving NCB/ECB shall check without delay all details contained in the payment order which are necessary for the appropriate credit entry to be made to the RTGS account of the receiving participant (including the unique identifier in order to avoid double crediting). The receiving NCB/ECB shall not process any payment orders which it knows to have been made in error or more than once. It shall notify the sending NCB/ECB of any such payment orders and any payments received pursuant thereto (and shall return any such payments received without delay).

2. Settlement

As soon as the receiving NCB/ECB has checked the validity of a payment order as referred to in Article 4(d)(1), the receiving NCB/ECB shall without delay:

For the purposes of this Guideline, and without prejudice to the provisions regarding irrevocability referred to in Article 3(e)(3), a payment shall become final (as defined in Article 1 of this Guideline) in relation to the receiving participant concerned at the moment at which its RTGS account referred to in (b) is credited.

1. Error handling procedures

Each NCB shall comply with, and ensure that its respective national RTGS system complies with the error handling procedures adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB. The ECB shall ensure the same for the ECB payment mechanism.

2. Additional contingency measures

Each NCB shall ensure that its respective national RTGS system and procedures comply with the terms and conditions for the additional contingency measures and the procedures adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB. The ECB shall ensure the same for the ECB payment mechanism.

1. All NCBs and the ECB shall be connected or have an entry point to the network service provider.

2. As between themselves, neither NCBs nor the ECB shall assume any liability to each other for any failure of the network service provider. It shall be the responsibility of the NCB/ECB which has suffered the loss to claim compensation, if any, against the network service provider, whereby an NCB shall make its claim through the ECB.

— the service-providing NCB shall be regarded as the receiving or sending NCB, as the case may be, as regards the obligations and liabilities relating to the processing of the cross-border payment via interlinking vis-à-vis either the sending or receiving NCB/ECB,

— the connected NCB shall be regarded as the receiving NCB or the sending NCB, as the case may be, as regards the obligations and liabilities relating to the crediting/debiting of the receiving/sending participant's RTGS account.

1. The service-providing NCB shall open an account in euro on its books for the connected NCB.

2. The service-providing NCB shall grant an unlimited and uncollateralised credit facility to the connected NCB.

3. To effect cross-border payments initiated by a participant in the connected NCB's RTGS system, the service-providing NCB shall debit the connected NCB's account and credit an RTGS account of the service-providing NCB's participant or credit the receiving NCB/ECB's inter-NCB account held with the service-providing NCB. To effect cross-border payments to a participant in the connected NCB's RTGS system, the service-providing NCB shall debit the sending NCB/ECB's inter-NCB account or debit an RTGS account of the service-providing NCB's participant and credit the connected NCB's account.

1. Verification

2. Settlement

3. Finality

The finality of cross-border payments processed through a bilateral link shall be determined in accordance with the rules laid down in Articles 4(c)(2) and 4(d)(2).

4. Transfer of responsibility for the execution of a payment order

For cross-border payments initiated by a participant in the connected NCB's RTGS system, responsibility for the execution of a payment order shall pass from the connected NCB to the service-providing NCB at the moment the connected NCB's account with the service-providing NCB is debited, and thereafter it shall pass to the receiving NCB/ECB in accordance with Article 4(e). For cross-border payments to a participant in the connected NCB's RTGS system, responsibility for the execution of a payment order shall pass from the sending NCB to the service-providing NCB on receipt by the sending NCB/ECB of a positive acknowledgement as described in Article 4a(c)(2)(e)(iii).

— each NCB and the ECB shall appoint a Settlement Manager for the administration and monitoring of its respective national RTGS system or, in the case of the ECB, the ECB payment mechanism,

— the Settlement Manager shall have responsibility for the daily management of such national RTGS system or, in the case of the ECB, the ECB payment mechanism and for handling abnormal situations and errors, and

— the ECB shall appoint the ECB TARGET Coordinator as the daily manager of the central functions of TARGET.

(a) In the event of a malfunctioning of TARGET, direct and indirect participants (for the purposes of this Article hereinafter referred to as ‘TARGET participants’) shall be entitled to submit claims for compensation in accordance with the rules laid down in this Article.

(b) The TARGET Compensation Scheme shall apply to all national RTGS systems (regardless of whether such RTGS systems are connected to TARGET via interlinking or through a bilateral link) and to the ECB payment mechanism and shall be available for all TARGET participants (including TARGET participants in national RTGS systems of participating Member States that are not counterparties to the Eurosystem monetary policy operations, and TARGET participants in national RTGS systems of non-participating Member States) in relation to all TARGET payments (without distinguishing between domestic payments and cross-border payments). The TARGET Compensation Scheme shall not apply to customers in the ECB payment mechanism in accordance with the Terms and Conditions governing the use of the ECB payment mechanism, which are available on the ECB's website and are updated from time to time.

(c) Unless otherwise decided by the Governing Council of the ECB, the TARGET Compensation Scheme shall not apply where the malfunctioning of TARGET is caused by:

(ca) For the purposes of Article 8(1)(c)(ii), a service-providing NCB shall not be regarded as a third party.

(d) Offers under the TARGET Compensation Scheme (compensation offers) shall be the only compensation offered by the ESCB in cases of a malfunctioning. The TARGET Compensation Scheme does not exclude the possibility for TARGET participants to avail themselves of other legal means to claim compensation in case of a malfunctioning of TARGET. However, the acceptance of a compensation offer by a TARGET participant shall constitute its irrevocable agreement that it thereby waives all claims (including any claims for consequential damages) it may have against any member of the ESCB, in accordance with national laws or otherwise, and that the receipt by it of the corresponding compensation payment shall be in full and final settlement of all such claims. The TARGET participant shall indemnify the ESCB up to the amount received under the TARGET Compensation Scheme from any further compensation which might be claimed by any other TARGET participant concerning the respective payment order.

(e) The making of any compensation offers and/or payments shall not constitute an admission of liability by any NCB or the ECB in respect of a malfunctioning.

(f) If a connected NCB cannot process cross-border payments due to a malfunctioning of the service-providing NCB's RTGS system, the service-providing NCB shall be regarded as the ‘malfunctioning NCB’, meaning the NCB of the national RTGS system where the malfunctioning occurred, in relation to such payments.

(a) With respect to a sending TARGET participant, a claim for an administration fee and interest compensation shall be considered if due to a malfunctioning:

(b) With respect to a receiving TARGET participant, a claim for an administration fee shall be considered if due to a malfunctioning such TARGET participant did not receive a TARGET payment that it was expecting to receive on the day of malfunctioning. In this event a claim for interest compensation shall also be considered if:

3.1. Compensation of sending TARGET participants

3.2. Compensation of receiving TARGET participants

(a) Any claim for compensation shall be submitted on a claim form (the content and form of which shall be as determined and made public by the ECB from time to time) together with any relevant information and evidence required thereby. A sending TARGET participant shall submit one separate claim form in respect of each receiving TARGET participant. A receiving TARGET participant shall submit one separate claim form in respect of each sending TARGET participant. Claims in relation to a specific TARGET payment can be submitted only once, either by a direct or an indirect participant on their own behalf or by a direct participant on behalf of an indirect participant.

(b) TARGET participants shall submit their claim form(s) to the NCB where the RTGS account that has or should have been debited or credited is maintained (the home NCB) within two weeks of the date of the malfunctioning. Any additional information and evidence requested by the home NCB shall be supplied within two weeks of such request being made.

(c) The Governing Council of the ECB carries out the assessment of all claims received and decide whether compensation offers shall be made. Unless otherwise decided by the Governing Council of the ECB and communicated to the TARGET participants, such assessment shall be made no later than twelve weeks after the malfunctioning.

(d) The malfunctioning NCB shall communicate the result of the assessment referred to in (c) above to the relevant TARGET participants. If the assessment comprises a compensation offer, the TARGET participants concerned shall, within four weeks of the communication of such offer, either reject the offer or accept it in respect of each payment order comprised within each claim by signing a standard letter of acceptance (the content and form of which shall be as determined and made public by the ECB from time to time). If such letter has not been received by the malfunctioning NCB within that four week period, the TARGET participants concerned shall be treated as having rejected the compensation offer.

(e) Compensation payments shall be made by the malfunctioning NCB upon receipt of the TARGET participant's letter of acceptance. There shall be no interest payable on any compensation payment.

— EUR 1,75 for each of the first 100 transactions per month,

— EUR 1,00 for each of the next 900 transactions per month,

— EUR 0,80 for each subsequent transaction in excess of 1 000 per month.

1. The reference time for TARGET is ‘European Central Bank time’, defined as the local time at the seat of the ECB.

2. TARGET will have common operating hours from 07.00 to 18.00.

3. Early opening, before 07.00, may take place after prior notification has been sent to the ECB:

4. A cut-off time for customer payments (both domestic and cross-border ( 6 ) of one hour before the normal TARGET closing time will apply; the remaining time will be used only for interbank payments (both domestic and cross-border ( 7 ) to transfer liquidity between participants. Customer payments are defined as payment messages in the MT100 format, or equivalent national message format (which would use the MT100 format for cross-border transmission). The implementation of the 17.00 cut-off time for domestic payments is to be decided by each NCB in cooperation with its banking community. In addition, NCBs may continue to process domestic customer payments that were in a queue at 17.00.