The report highlights three possible end-states for an expansion of operating hours: (i) an incremental increase in operating hours on working days, (ii) an increase to include current non-operating days like weekends or holidays and (iii) extension to full 24/7 operations. [17] Expanding operating hours would have some significant benefits for cross-border payments: 1. Faster cross-border payments: Longer operating hours would extend the window of overlap between systems and lower an operational barrier to completing cross-border payments within the 1hr timeframe specified in the FSB targets. 2. Improved liquidity management: To enable cross-border payments banks need to hold liquidity positions to fund the payment. The longer cross-border payments take the longer these positions need to remain open, trapping liquidity. Greater overlap in operating hours could speed up the transaction. 3. Reduced settlement risk: When the operating hours of payment systems do not overlap final settlement in central bank money cannot happen which leads to the build-up on settlement risk. The longer settlement is delayed due to operating hours the greater the settlement risk becomes. Expanding operating hours will make cross-border payments faster and reduce settlement risk But, as the report points out, there are also risks and operational and policy implications to assess when reviewing expansion of operating hours. Parties involved in RTGS systems may need to review and enhance existing operational procedures, risk monitoring tools and mitigation measures, and central banks and other authorities, will need to consider issues related to monetary policy, financial stability, and resolution policy for troubled institutions.

There are two key milestones approaching: CHAPS payments will migrate to enhanced ISO 20022 messaging in April 2023, followed by the switchover of the core settlement engine in Spring 2024. The new RTGS platform will have the capability to extend operating hours to 22/5, and with further changes, to near 24/7 operation. And it will be built with the capacity to accommodate a significant increase in account holders. Importantly, it will be a modular design with a strong foundation on which to build additional innovative functionality. We are currently consulting industry on a menu of features which could be introduced to RTGS beyond 2024. [19] This includes assessing demand for a number of features, including synchronised payments that seek to bring not only domestic benefits, but help to improve crossborder payments. The consultation closes on 30 June 2022 and we expect to issue a response document around the end of this year. In 2017, the Bank became one of the first central banks to expand access to non-bank PSPs. But we want to keep pace with the fast changing payments landscape. By spring 2023 line with roadmap timelines, we plan to review access arrangements by conducting a gap analysis to understand if we have expanded access to the three key groups identified in the report, and consider if we can do more to expand access. And to a similar timeline we plan to undertake operational, risk and policy analysis to arrive on a way forward on operating hours.