For most of its existence, CHAPS - the UK’s high-value same-day settlement system - has been a creature of business hours. A weekday service.
That’s changing. And the pace of change is picking up.
We already knew that earlier morning opening was coming. From September 2027, CHAPS will open at 01:30 rather than 06:00 — a four-and-a-half hour extension that gives participants significantly more runway at the start of each settlement day. That alone is a meaningful shift, driven by the demands of a payments landscape that increasingly doesn’t stop.
But the Bank of England is now proposing to go considerably further.
The consultation is open. The timeline is long. But the Bank’s direction of travel is clear.
Payment Infrastructure (NewRPI) — but will it be the phoenix our industry needs? As the journey to a NewRPI commences we’ll be bringing insights, analysis, and conversations on the future of payments infrastructure in the United Kingdom.
Free from corporate or regulatory agendas, who is better placed to lead the discussion on the NewRPI than Mike Chambers — the driving force behind NewBacs, Faster Payments adoption and part of the original NewCHAPS journey.
