Why Is the Fed Keeping Banker ’s Hours?

Nicholas AnthonyThe Federal Reserve has been a center of attention since the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).Controversy continues to swirl around the Federal Reserve ’s supervision of SVB, but a particularly interesting question about the Federal Reserve ’s larger efforts came the week before SVB made headlines. During a congressional hearing, RepresentativeFrench Hill (R –AR) asked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell why the Federal Reserve does not allow its payments system to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.Chair Powell answered, “I’m not sure why we are not 24x7.”This instance was not the first time the Federal Reserve punted the question. Nearly a decade ago, inJanuary 2015, the Federal Reserve announced that it intended to explore the idea of expanding its operating hours:The Federal Reserve intends to enhance the National Settlement Service to make it more attractive as a settlement vehicle for private ‐​sector arrangements. [The Federal Reserve plans to] explore the technology, infrastructure and operational and resource changes required to support weekend and/​or 24x7 operating hours.Over four years later, inAugust 2019, the Federal Reserve announced (again) that it intended to explore the idea of expanding its operating hours:In addition, the Board is announcing its intention to explore the expansion of Fedwire Funds Service and National Settlement Service hours, up to 24x...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs