The Bank of England has opened a consultation on extending RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours, setting out a phased route toward near-24/7 operation. The plan builds on the confirmed September 2027 change that will move CHAPS opening from 06:00 to 01:30 Monday to Friday, giving firms a clearer planning horizon for longer settlement availability.
The proposal matters because longer settlement hours would bring the UK’s core wholesale payment infrastructure closer to the operating rhythm of tokenized assets, stablecoins and global markets. For banks, FMIs and treasury teams, settlement availability becomes a strategic infrastructure issue, not only a payments-operations upgrade.
Weekend Settlement Comes First
The Bank’s preferred next step is to add a settlement day at the weekend, most likely Sunday, alongside selected UK bank holidays. That phase would not begin before 2029 and would likely run from 01:30 to 18:00, excluding Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday.
A later phase, not before 2031, would extend settlement hours further across weekdays and one weekend day, creating a 22×6 operating model with CHAPS settlement available 22 hours per day from Sunday through Friday. Longer-term options include 22×7 operation or a near-continuous 23.5×7 model.
The Bank is prioritizing weekends and bank holidays because those periods create the longest settlement gaps. Closing those gaps can reduce liquidity risk, improve cross-border alignment and support use cases that need closer synchronization between payment systems and external asset ledgers.
Tokenization Raises the Settlement Bar
The consultation places tokenization inside the broader payments-infrastructure roadmap. The Bank said extended settlement hours support a multi-money ecosystem and could help services that interact with external asset ledgers operating around the clock.
That connection is critical for wholesale markets. Tokenized deposits, stablecoins and digital securities can trade continuously, but final settlement still depends on central-bank money availability. Wider RTGS and CHAPS hours would reduce the mismatch between execution and settlement finality.
The operational burden will be significant. Participants will need to reassess staffing, liquidity management, incident response, system support and reconciliation workflows as settlement windows extend beyond traditional business hours.
The September 2027 early-morning extension already shows that the Bank is taking a phased approach. Sending CHAPS payments before 06:00 will be optional for direct participants, while all direct participants will be able to receive payments from 01:30.
The consultation is not an implemented change, but it sets the roadmap for market preparation. For banks, custodians, FMIs and tokenization platforms, the key workstream is now readiness: operating models, liquidity controls and settlement governance must evolve before near-24/7 infrastructure becomes standard.