The Fed has long weighed whether to expand operations of Fedwire and NSS as part of its pursuit of faster payments. After initially announcing in 2019 that it was considering extending the hours, the agency is finally getting around to soliciting public comment on the policy change.

During a 2019 presentation, a former Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard noted that the public “deserves the same ability to make and receive payments immediately and securely, and every bank deserves the same opportunity to offer that service to its community.” 

Amid its pursuit of improved payments services, the Fed has had some hiccups along the way. In 2021, the agency confirmed that it had an “operational error” that led to outages of its 14 services, including Fedwire Funds. The Fed later told The Wall Street Journal that the issue arose from a “human error.”

Beyond extending its hours, the Fed has sought to make other changes to the Fedwire Funds Service as part of its efforts to set new payment technology standards. In 2021, the agency said it would adopt the ISO 20022 messaging standard, which could speed up cross-border payments, for Fedwire Funds Services by 2025.