CHAPS settlement to start at 01:30

CHAPS is the UK payment system for high-value sterling payments. Each payment settles one by one, in central bank money, across accounts in the Bank of England's Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).

The Bank of England decided to open CHAPS settlement at 01:30 instead of 06:00, Monday to Friday. Go-live is targeted for September 2027, subject to final confirmation of the timeline with the direct participants of CHAPS (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).

Today a CHAPS payment instructed before 06:00 waits until the system opens. From go-live, payments can settle from 01:30 (Bank of England (external site)).

As an illustrative example only: a payment sent at 02:15 settles at 02:15 instead of waiting until 06:00 (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).

Sending in the early window is optional, and there are no limits on the types of payment. All direct participants receive payments on their CHAPS settlement account from 01:30, whether or not they send (Bank of England (external site)).

Intraday liquidity is credited in RT2 at 01:30, and participants cannot change those amounts before 08:00. The euro liquidity bridge still starts at 05:50 (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).

The Bank does not provide participant support between 01:30 and 05:45, and the evening contingency window is unchanged (Bank of England (external site)).

The change concerns banks that are direct participants in CHAPS and the market infrastructures connected to RTGS. Other UK payment systems keep their current timetables (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).

• Payments Operations Analyst: monitors incoming payments that settle from 01:30.
• Treasury Operations Analyst: manages the settlement account balance from the earlier opening.
• Liquidity Risk Analyst: measures intraday liquidity use over a longer settlement day.
• Treasury Analyst: plans sterling funding for payments that can arrive before 06:00.
• ALM Analyst: reflects the earlier opening in intraday liquidity planning.
• Payments Messaging Specialist (SWIFT): keeps message channels available for receipts from 01:30.

• 2024: the Bank published a discussion paper on longer RTGS hours and its response (Bank of England (external site)).
• 2025: consultation on the 01:30 opening (Bank of England consultation (external site)).
• February 2026: decision announced in the policy statement (Bank of England policy statement (external site)).
• September 2027: target go-live, still subject to final confirmation with direct participants (expected).

A separate consultation, with responses due by 10 August 2026, proposed Sunday and bank holiday settlement not before 2029, then longer hours every weekday plus one full weekend day not before 2031. No decision on these steps has been taken (Bank of England consultation (external site)).

The early opening is the first step of a wider review of RTGS operating hours (RTGS operating hours review (external site)).

The 2025 consultation proposed the same 01:30 start and the same treatment of intraday liquidity, and the policy statement confirmed both (Bank of England consultation (external site)).