GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
PAYMENTSSIGNAL

The interactive academy for the standards, messages, and rails that move money.

GET IN TOUCH
BOJ-NET (JAPAN RTGS)

Queued at the BOJ: a large-value payment short of funds

Trigger: Bank Alfa's current account at the Bank of Japan lacks the funds to cover a large-value BOJ-NET payment.

Contributor Shubham Mathure

What operations sees first: A high-value yen payment does not settle immediately; it waits until the BOJ current account is funded.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

No money moved while queued — Bank Alfa's current account was untouched until cover arrived.

DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?

Settlement was deferred until funds were available, then completed gross in central bank money.

WHO ACTS NEXT?

Bank Alfa (sending bank) Bank Alfa manages its BOJ current-account balance so large-value payments do not queue.

PLAY THE EXCEPTION

Trigger: Bank Alfa's current account at the Bank of Japan does not hold JPY 300,000,000 at the moment the message is checked.

STEP 1 / 5MESSAGE

Bank Alfa submits the BOJ-NET transfer

Bank Alfa (sending bank) → BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System · BOJ-NET funds transfer

Bank Alfa sends a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) funds-transfer message for a high-value yen obligation to Nordbank. This is an instruction — the money has not moved yet.

Step 1 of 5: Bank Alfa submits the BOJ-NET transfer

  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa submits the BOJ-NET transferBank Alfa (sending bank) → BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System · BOJ-NET funds transfer
  2. 02Processing
    BOJ-NET checks the current-account balanceBOJ-NET Funds Transfer System
  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The transfer is queued until fundedBOJ-NET Funds Transfer System → Bank Alfa (sending bank)
  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessing
    Bank Alfa funds its current accountBank Alfa (sending bank)
  5. 05 · EXCEPTION PATHSettlement
    The funded transfer settlesBank Alfa (sending bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)
  6. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Nordbank is paid only once Bank Alfa funds its current account; until then the transfer sits queued and unsettled.
    Settlement
    Settlement waited on liquidity — the payment did not settle until the current account was covered.
    Who acts next
    Bank Alfa (sending bank) — Bank Alfa manages its intraday liquidity so high-value transfers do not stall in the queue.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa submits the BOJ-NET transferBank Alfa (sending bank) → BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System · BOJ-NET funds transfer

    Bank Alfa sends a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) funds-transfer message for a high-value yen obligation to Nordbank. This is an instruction — the money has not moved yet.

  2. 02Processing
    BOJ-NET checks the current-account balanceBOJ-NET Funds Transfer System

    BOJ-NET checks that Bank Alfa's current account at the Bank of Japan holds enough to cover the payment, because an RTGS system settles each transfer in full or not at all.

  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The transfer is queued until fundedBOJ-NET Funds Transfer System → Bank Alfa (sending bank)

    An RTGS system will not settle a transfer it cannot cover in full, so BOJ-NET holds the payment in a queue rather than settling it partially or on credit.

  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessing
    Bank Alfa funds its current accountBank Alfa (sending bank)

    Bank Alfa brings in incoming payments or moves liquidity so its current account at the Bank of Japan can cover the outgoing JPY 300,000,000 transfer.

  5. 05 · EXCEPTION PATHSettlement
    The funded transfer settlesBank Alfa (sending bank) → Nordbank (receiving bank)

    With cover in place, the Bank of Japan settles the queued payment across the two current accounts, individually and finally.

    • DR Bank Alfa's current account at the Bank of Japan — JPY 300,000,000
    • CR Nordbank's current account at the Bank of Japan — JPY 300,000,000
  6. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Nordbank is paid only once Bank Alfa funds its current account; until then the transfer sits queued and unsettled.
    Settlement
    Settlement waited on liquidity — the payment did not settle until the current account was covered.
    Who acts next
    Bank Alfa (sending bank) — Bank Alfa manages its intraday liquidity so high-value transfers do not stall in the queue.

THE TIMELINE

  1. 01Bank Alfa (sending bank)
    Submits a JPY 300,000,000 BOJ-NET funds transfer for real-time gross settlement.
  2. 02BOJ-NET
    Finds Bank Alfa's current-account balance insufficient and queues the payment rather than rejecting it.
  3. 03Bank Alfa
    Receives incoming BOJ-NET credits or arranges funds so its current account can cover the queued payment.
  4. 04Bank of Japan
    Settles the released payment individually and immediately across the current accounts at the Bank of Japan.

Resolution: The payment is deferred, not lost. Once the BOJ current account can cover it, BOJ-NET settles it gross and immediately.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS

Sources for this scenario2
  1. Official requirement

    BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System ↗ — Bank of Japan · BOJ-NET settlement

    Describes the BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System, the Bank of Japans real-time gross settlement system for Japanese yen (established 1988), settling payments individually and immediately across current accounts at the Bank of Japan; large-value payments of JPY 100 million or more settle on an RTGS basis. · Checked 2026-07-14

    BOJ-NET is the RTGS core for the yen; retail net positions from the Zengin System settle across BOJ accounts.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact timings vary.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.