Modifications to the Federal Reserve Banks' National Settlement Service and Fedwire® Funds Service To Support Enhancements to the Same-Day ACH Service and Corresponding Changes to the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk

The Board of Governors (Board) has approved modifications to the Federal Reserve Banks' (Reserve Banks) payment services to facilitate adoption of a later same-day automated clearinghouse (ACH) processing and settlement window. Specifically, the Reserve Banks will extend the daily operating hours of the National Settlement Service (NSS) and the Fedwire[supreg] Funds Service. To mitigate the risk that these modified hours will cause more frequent delays to the 9:00 p.m. eastern time (ET) reopening of the Fedwire Funds Service, the Reserve Banks will modify the practice of maintaining a 2-hour window between the closing and reopening of the Fedwire Funds Service to maintain only a 90-minute window, and will increase the $1 billion value threshold for extending the closing of the Fedwire Funds Service to $3 billion. Finally, the Board has approved corresponding changes to the Federal Reserve Policy on Payment System Risk (PSR policy).