The Federal Reserve Board 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.

The proposal follows feedback from a range of stakeholders on the benefits of expanding the operating days for each service. Providing large-value payment services every day would support the safety and efficiency of the U.S. payment system and help to position the nation’s payment and settlement infrastructure for the future. For example, potential benefits of expanding operating days include improving the credit risk and operational efficiency of systemically important financial market utilities and private-sector retail payment arrangements, spurring innovation in new or enhanced private-sector payment solutions, and supporting more efficient cross-border payments flows. On the other hand, it would also require operational and technical changes that would impose costs. The proposal seeks feedback on all aspects of the proposal, including the benefits and potential costs and risks.

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

Source: Federal Reserve