ReGIS is the national funds transfer system with real-time gross settlement (RTGS) for payments in lei owned and operated by NBR, used for the settlement of central bank’s monetary policy operations, interbank transfers, operations of other financial market infrastructures that operate at national level, as well as payments initiated by participants on behalf of their customers, regardless of value. The system ensures the processing and settlement of payment instructions in real time, individually, and the settlement takes place in central bank money, with immediate finality.
The system is operated by the central bank under art. 21 and art. 29 para. 2 lit. b) from Law no. 312/2004 regarding the Statute of the National Bank of Romania, in accomplishment of its statutory role of promoting the smooth functioning of payment systems with the view to ensuring financial stability, as well as to supporting the implementation of the monetary policy of NBR and the functioning of the money market.
The system is designated by NBR Governor's Order as falling under the provisions of Law No 253/2004 on settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems, as subsequently amended and supplemented (which transposes into Romanian legislation the Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on settlement finality in payment and securities settlement systems, as subsequently amended and supplemented).
Through ReGIS, NBR aims to minimize the systemic risk in the payments market (the possibility of a single market player to cause the collapse of the entire market), as well as to ensure the efficient processing of payments in lei at the national level.
Statistical data
In 2022, the ReGIS system processed a number of 9,366,898 payments, with a total value of 16,198,533 million lei. The average daily number of payments processed in ReGIS was 37,170 transactions, with an average daily value of 64,279 million lei, the average value of a payment initiated in the system being 1.73 million lei.
System management
As system operator, NBR manages and controls the operation of the system, authorizes the participation in the system, establishes and modifies the system rules, monitors their compliance by the participants and takes corrective actions in the event of breaches.
In order to ensure an effective governance of the payment and settlement systems operated by NBR (including ReGIS), with a clear separation of roles and responsibilities between the governing body and senior management, a single governance scheme was implemented, with management roles and responsibilities distributed on multiple levels.
System Participation
The following categories of institutions are eligible to participate in the ReGIS system:
- credit institutions established in Romania and licensed by NBR (banks, housing savings and lending banks, mortgage credit banks, central houses of credit cooperative organizations);
- branches registered in Romania by credit institutions established in the European Economic Area, that have been notified to NBR by the competent authority of the member state of origin;
- branches registered in Romania by credit institutions established outside the European Economic Area, that have been authorized by NBR;
- NBR;
- State Treasury;
- organizations from the European Economic Area that provide clearing or settlement services and are overseen by a competent authority.
To participate in ReGIS, an applicant institution must:
- meet the above eligibility requirements;
- prove its appropriate operational capacity;
- provide a legal opinion regarding the capacity, unless the information and undertakings to be provided by such legal opinion have already been obtained by NBR in another context (requirement applicable only in the case of credit institutions governed by a foreign legislation);
- provide a legal opinion regarding the country, unless the information and undertakings to be provided by such legal opinion have already been obtained by the BNR in another context (requirement applicable in the case of credit institutions established outside the European Economic Area, but acting through a branch established in the European Economic Area).
At the end of 2022, 41 participants were registered in ReGIS (33 credit institutions, State Treasury, NBR and 6 auxiliary systems).
In order to participate in ReGIS, an applicant institution must:
- meet the aforementioned eligibility requirements;
- prove its appropriate operating capacity;
- submit a legal opinion on the capacity in the case of credit institutions governed by a foreign legislation (except when the information and statements to be provided via such a legal opinion have already been obtained by the NBR in another context);
- submit a legal opinion on the country in the case of credit institutions from outside the European Economic Area which operate via a branch set up in the European Economic Area (except when the information and statements to be released via such a legal opinion have already been obtained by the NBR in another context).
If they do not carry out their activity through an office located in Romania, the organizations from the European Economic Area that provide clearing or settlement services and are overseen by a competent authority can designate operating agents from among the institutions participating in ReGIS, who, based on specific contractual provisions, should transmit and receive, on behalf of the respective organization, specific messages in relation to ReGIS, in which case the requirements regarding the operational capacity of the participant not located in Romania are considered fulfilled to the extent that the designated operating agent fulfills the respective requirement.
Types of transactions
ReGIS processes credit transfers in lei related to:
- central bank’s monetary policy operations;
- interbank transfers;
- operations related to other financial market infrastructures that operate at national level;
- customer payments (regardless the value).
Credit transfers are initiated in the system by participants as SWIFT messages, using the SWIFT FIN Y-Copy service (MT202, MT202 COV and MT103).
Operating schedule
The ReGIS system operates from Monday to Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (Romanian time), except for the public holidays.
The ReGIS operation day provides for a cut-off for payments made on the customer's account (4:00 p.m.) and a cut-off for interbank payments (5:00 p.m.).
Availability
In the year 2022, the overall system availability was 100.00%.
ReGIS availability is an indicator obtained by reporting the actual operation period to the scheduled operation time.
Business continuity
The administrator of the ReGIS system applies and maintains an appropriate business continuity policy and a disaster recovery plan in order to ensure the continuity of services, the rapid resumption of operations and the fulfillment of obligations in the event of incidents that present a significant risk of disruption to operations. The plan includes the existence of a second site, equipped with adequate resources, capabilities and functionality, that can take over the processing in case of emergency situations.
At the same time, in case of unforeseen events at the participants' level, NBR can initiate manually in the system payments in the name of participants, ,but on a best effort basis and taking into account the operations priorities .
In accordance with the Requirements for the technical certification of participants in the electronic payment system, each participant has the obligation to ensure its own operational continuity, by implementing specific procedures and a secondary site for disaster recovery or, as the case may be, of some specific arrangements (agreements, contracts, various types of agreements with third parties, etc.) that allow the continuity of their activity in the event of an incident at the main site. The procedures must ensure the operational continuity of the participant so that no incidents that could lead to blocking, interrupting the operation of the system or inducing a systemic risk occur.
Liquidity management
In ReGIS, liquidity can be managed in a very flexible manner.
The minimum reserves, that credit institutions are required to maintain at the central bank, represent funds deposited in the settlement account in ReGIS and can be used for settlement during the operating day.
In addition, NBR provides ReGIS participants intraday loans without interest (i.e. intraday credit facility), collateralized with the same types of assets that are also eligible for the NBR's monetary policy operations.
The main liquidity management tools in the ReGIS system provided to participants are:
- payments prioritization;
- active management of the waiting queue;
- active control (on-line) of information related to own liquidity;
- establishing reserves on own account.
Fees
The ReGIS system has a transparent fees policy, with all fees provided in Appendix no. 9 to the system rules. The system charges fixed fees per transaction type (regardless of value), fees for the management of participant, user profiles and details, a fee for exiting the system, and fees for elaborating customized on demand reports, as well as for users training and certification.
The aim of the fees policies applied to the NBR operated systems is to cover the costs from the revenues obtained from their operation.
User support service (helpdesk)
During the operation day of ReGIS, NBR provides the participants with a permanent user assistance service (helpdesk), that can be contacted as follows:
Personal data protection
The NBR, in its capacity as personal data operator, processes the personal data willingly supplied to, or in possession of which it comes indirectly, pursuant to the applicable national legislation in force, to the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR), hereinafter referred to as GDPR and to the Law no. 506/2004 on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector, in a secure manner, and intended solely for the purposes for which they were collected.
Information on the protection of personal data related to the activity of the ReGIS system is provided in Appendix no. 6 of the ReGIS System Rules.
The person responsible for the protection of personal data at the NBR may be contacted in written by email at datepersonale [at] bnro.ro and/or by post at Banca Nationala a României, str. Lipscani no. 25 , sector 3, Bucharest, postal code 030031.
Useful documents and information
ReGIS Advisory Group