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Domestic CHF clearing runs through the SNB-supervised SIC RTGS system operated by SIX (since 1987), settling interbank, large-value, retail and card flows in central bank money. Cross-border euro flows run via euroSIC, operated with the Swiss Euro Clearing Bank (SECB) in Frankfurt, providing a gateway to TARGET/European systems; Switzerland also participates in SEPA despite being a non-EU member. SIC Instant Payments launched August 2024 covering banks handling >95% of retail payments, with full participation expected by end-2026, and TIPS–SIC IP cross-border links are being explored. SIC is a systemically important FMI subject to the CPMI-IOSCO PFMI.
SIC Instant Payments launched in August 2024 (20 August 2024), covering banks handling over 95% of retail payments and transferring funds A2A within 10 seconds around the clock under SNB monitoring; full participation is expected by end-2026, with a Phase 2 cohort of around 180 more institutions joining. The end-2026 universal-participation deadline forces all retail-active Swiss institutions onto instant rails — a near-term infrastructure shift. The Phase 2 rollout status as of mid-2026 is not independently verified and is carried as a gap.
Outlook
The central corridor and settlement architecture is established; the near-term milestone is the end-2026 SIC IP universal-participation deadline, with Phase 2 progress to be verified next cycle.
no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief
Sources and findings (4)
- T1https://www.snb.ch/en/the-snb/mandates-goals/payment-transactions/swiss-interbank-clearingretrieved
- T1https://www.bis.org/cpmi/paysys/switzerlandcomp.pdfretrieved
- T2https://www.six-group.com/en/products-services/banking-services/interbank-clearing/sic.htmlretrieved
- T3https://stripe.com/resources/more/payments-in-switzerlandretrieved