Comments due on Fed proposal expanding operating hours of payment services

The Federal Reserve Board has requested comment on a proposal to expand the operating days of the Federal Reserve Banks' two large-value payments services to include weekends and holidays, so that they would operate every day of the year.

Currently, both the Fedwire Funds Service and the National Settlement Service, or NSS, operate Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Under the proposal, both services would operate every day of the year. The operating hours each day would remain the same, with the Fedwire Funds Service open 22 hours per day, and NSS open 21.5 hours per day. Use of the expanded operating days by service participants, such as banks and credit unions, would be voluntary.

The Fedwire Funds Service is a wholesale payment service that allows service participants to send and receive individual electronic funds transfers up to $10 billion. The NSS is a settlement service for participants in private-sector clearing arrangements, such as check clearinghouses, a private-sector automated clearinghouse network, and securities settlement systems. The proposal does not include changes to the Fedwire Securities Service or the Federal Reserve's new retail service for instant payments, the FedNow Service.

Comments on the proposal will be accepted up to 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

• Fed staff memo to Board of Governors
• UPDATE: Scheduled for publication on 5/9/2024, with a comment period ending 7/8/2024
• FURTHER UPDATE:The Fed Board has announced it is extending the comment period to end on 9/6/2024