The Bank of England (BoE) has published a policy statement confirming its decision to extend CHAPS settlement hours by introducing an early morning extension (EME). This will move the start of settlement from 06:00 to 01:30 under an optional participation model, with implementation targeted for September 2027 (subject to final confirmation of the planned timelines with impacted CHAPS direct participants (DPs)). The EME follows the July 2025 consultation and is intended to support earlier settlement, improve liquidity management, enhance operational resilience and better align UK payment infrastructure with international markets. While CHAPS DPs may optionally send payments during the extended window (with no restrictions on payment types that can be sent), all participants will be able to receive payments from 01:30. The most critical payments, including CLS pay-ins and payments for central counterparties initial and variation margin calls, are not expected to move into the EME.
The BoE also confirms that it will not, at this stage, proceed with extending the evening CHAPS contingency window due to limited demand. It will, however, continue to explore options including additional settlement on certain bank holiday Mondays, a longer weekday operating window, and wider reforms as part of its longer-term roadmap towards near 24x7 settlement. It plans to publish a consultation paper examining the potential near 24x7 extension of RTGS/CHAPS settlement hours, discussing opportunities, challenges, use cases and the steps required to deliver it in the spring.
