Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, CHECKS AND ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS—Fed extends comment period on proposal to expand operation of payment services, (Jun 24, 2024)
The Fed previously proposed running the Fedwire Funds Service and National Settlement Service 365 days per year. Currently, the two services are closed for weekends and holidays.
The Federal Reserve Board announced it is extending the comment period on a proposal to expand the operating days of the Federal Reserve Banks' two large-value payments services, Fedwire® Funds Service and the National Settlement Service (NSS), to include weekends and holidays. According to the Fed’s announcement, the extended comment period will “allow the public more time to analyze the proposal and prepare their comments.” Comments on the proposal, which were originally due by July 8, 2024, are now due by Sept. 6, 2024.
In May, the Fed issued a request for comment seeking input on a proposal to expand the Fed's two payment services—Fedwire Funds Service and the National Settlement Service—to run 365 days per year (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, May 6, 2024). Under the proposal, the Fedwire Funds Service, which is used for electronic funds transfers up to $10 billion, and the National Settlement Services, which lets banks and other participants in private clearinghouses settle transactions by crediting and debiting their respective Federal Reserve accounts, would be open year round, though they'd still close daily between 7 and 9 PM Eastern Time. Currently, the two services are closed for weekends and holidays.
The Fed said that since the proposal’s publication, it “received comments requesting an extension of the comment period” and therefore ordered the 60-day extension to “provide additional opportunity for interested parties to analyze the proposal and prepare and submit comments.”
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