BoE Consults on Sunday, Extended Hours, Settlement

The Bank of England has launched a consultation over extending the hours of its high-value payment system, with Sunday settlement and then extended hours on its existing windows the seen as the first steps towards a near-24/7 environment.

The move will be in addition to the already-announced early morning extension that will see CHAPS open at 01:30 (instead of 06:00) from September 2027. “Extending settlement hours is an important part of delivering our vision of a safe and resilient multi-money ecosystem in which different forms of money – including central bank money, commercial bank money, tokenised deposits and stablecoins – can coexist and interoperate across both conventional and distributed ledger infrastructure,” the Bank states. “In that future landscape, central bank money remains the ultimate risk-free settlement asset and an essential anchor for the singleness of money.”

While the Old Lady says no decision on the next steps has been taken, it does highlight two phases that it says could, depending upon feedback, run concurrently. The first phase of the extension would see an additional settlement day at the weekend – most likely on Sundays – alongside settlement on certain UK bank holidays. This would be followed by lengthening the settlement window on existing settlement days. The first phase would not be implemented before 2029, the Bank says, and the second not before 2031.

“Our view is that settlement at weekends and bank holidays offers greater risk reduction benefits as well as having greater potential to support innovation in payments and other financial services and should therefore be prioritised,” the Bank states. “We are interested to understand whether respondents support this approach or would prefer a different sequencing.”