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| Founded | 1853 |
|---|---|
Area served | United States |
| Products | Core payments system infrastructure |
| Website | www |
The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. (PayCo) is a U.S.-based limited liability company formed by Clearing House Association. PayCo is a private sector, payment system infrastructure that operates an electronic check clearing and settlement system (SVPCO), a clearing house, and a wholesale funds transfer system (CHIPS). [1]
Clearing House Association and The Clearing House Payments Company LLC conduct business under the name The Clearing House. The Clearing House is the oldest banking association and payments company in the United States.
The Clearing House governance model includes a supervisory board and two managing boards, one for the Payments Company and one for the Association. The businesses and affairs of PayCo and the Association are managed by the Supervisory Board. The managing boards of PayCo and the Association have responsibility for the oversight of their respective businesses and financial performance and for the establishment of their agendas. [2]
The Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) is a bank owned automated funds-transfer system for domestic and international high value payment transactions in U.S. dollars. It is a real-time final settlement payment system that continuously matches, off-sets and settles payments among international and domestic banks. [3]
CHIPS provides real-time, immediate and final settlement of payment messages continuously throughout the day similar to Fedwire. During the business day, system participants can send their payments to CHIPS. Funds are released by available funds on hand (no overdrafts are permitted) or through offsetting. A “balance release algorithm” continuously searches the queue of unreleased payments and uses this patented off-setting algorithm to match and release payments.
CHIPS’ ability to perform real-time bilateral and multi-lateral off-setting means that very large payments can be released earlier in the day, and that participants realize greater liquidity efficiency savings than those possible in pure RTGS systems. With real-time off-setting, the system continuously offsets payments between two or more CHIPS participants. A payment is considered final and irrevocable at the instant CHIPS releases it. [4]
Since CHIPS’ inception The Clearing House management has implemented a number of credit, systemic and liquidity risk reduction measures to better manage individual participant risk, eliminate daylight overdraft exposure, and virtually eliminate systemic risk. [5]
CHIPS provides financial institutions an alternative to the Federal Reserve's Fedwire service.
Electronic Payments Network (EPN) is an automated clearing house (ACH), i.e. a computerized, batch-processing funds-transfer system that processes domestic consumer and commercial financial transactions among depository institutions. Rather than sending each payment separately, ACH transactions are accumulated and sorted by destination for transmission during a predetermined time period. [6]
The Automated Clearing Exchange System (ACES) is the core computerized system for EPN processing of payments between account holders at depository financial institutions. EPN serves approximately 450 processing customers. EPN participants include Depository Financial Institutions (DFI) throughout the United States and its territories as part of a nationwide network for domestic commercial banks, thrifts, credit unions and agencies of foreign institutions. [7]
EPN provides financial institutions an alternative to the Federal Reserve's FedACH service.
The Clearing House Payments Company operates the RTP (Real–Time Payments) service which facilitates instant payments for customers of its member banks. [8] As of 2023, approximately 300 financial institutions subscribe to the service. Six years after RTP's introduction in 2017, the Federal Reserve began offering the competing FedNow service.
SVPCO is The Clearing House's line of business that operates CHECCS, which is a computerized settlement system.
SVPCO Online Adjustments provides a secure online database to automate cash letter adjustments.
SVPCO Online Settlement is integrated with the SVPCO Image Payments Network and provides automated settlement for cash letter activity. It also works in tandem with SVPCO Online Adjustments, which allows institutions to reconcile adjustments the same day by eliminating the need for paper forms and attachments.[ citation needed ]
The New York Clearing House Association was organized at the Bank Officers meeting on October 4, 1853. There were fifty-seven banks in New York City in 1853. Fifty-two became members of the Association. The first check exchanges at The Clearing House were held on October 11, 1853. The Clearing House does not exchange physical checks any longer. The original check exchanges have evolved into a new computerized check settlement system operated by SVPCO called the Clearing House Electronic Check Clearing System (CHECCS). [9]
In the United States, the ACH Network is the national automated clearing house (ACH) for electronic funds transfers established in the 1960s and 1970s. It processes financial transactions for consumers, businesses, and federal, state, and local governments. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches. ACH credit transfers include direct deposit for payroll, Social Security, and other benefit payments, tax refunds, and vendor payments. ACH direct debit transfers include consumer payments on insurance premiums, mortgage loans, and other kinds of bills.
Cheque clearing or bank clearance is the process of moving cash from the bank on which a cheque is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the cheque to the paying bank, either in the traditional physical paper form or digitally under a cheque truncation system. This process is called the clearing cycle and normally results in a credit to the account at the bank of deposit, and an equivalent debit to the account at the bank on which it was drawn, with a corresponding adjustment of accounts of the banks themselves. If there are not enough funds in the account when the cheque arrived at the issuing bank, the cheque would be returned as a dishonoured cheque marked as non-sufficient funds.
Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a "gross" basis to avoid settlement risk. Settlement in "real time" means a payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period, with transactions being settled as soon as they are processed. "Gross settlement" means the transaction is settled on a one-to-one basis, without bundling or netting with any other transaction. "Settlement" means that once processed, payments are final and irrevocable.
Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.
In banking and finance, clearing denotes all activities from the time a commitment is made for a transaction until it is settled. This process turns the promise of payment into the actual movement of money from one account to another. Clearing houses were formed to facilitate such transactions among banks.
A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, payment instruments such as payment cards, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible. A payment system is an operational network which links bank accounts and provides for monetary exchange using bank deposits. Some payment systems also include credit mechanisms, which are essentially a different aspect of payment.
Fedwire is a real-time gross settlement funds transfer system operated by the United States Federal Reserve Banks that allows financial institutions to electronically transfer funds between its more than 9,289 participants. Transfers can only be initiated by the sending bank once they receive the proper wiring instructions for the receiving bank. These instructions include: the receiving bank's routing number, account number, recipient’s name and dollar amount being transferred. This information is submitted to the Federal Reserve via the Fedwire system. Once the instructions are received and processed, the Fed will debit the funds from the sending bank's reserve account and credit the receiving bank's account. Wire transfers sent via Fedwire are completed the same business day, with many being completed instantly.
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems, without the direct intervention of bank staff. Funds transfers are the primary mechanism used by the business community for fast and reliable transfer of funds between two parties. The funds transfer process generally consists of a series of electronic messages sent between financial institutions directing each to make the debit and credit accounting entries necessary to complete the transaction. A funds transfer can generally be described as a series of payment instruction messages, beginning with the originator's instructions, and including a series of further instructions between the participating institutions, with the purpose of making payment to the beneficiary.
The Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) is a United States private clearing house for large-value transactions. As of 2023, it settles approximately 500,000 payments totaling US$1.7 trillion per day. Together with the Federal Reserve Banks' Fedwire Funds Service, CHIPS forms the primary U.S. network for large-value domestic and international USD payments where it has a market share of around 96%. CHIPS transfers are governed by Article 4A of Uniform Commercial Code.
The Electronic Payments Network (EPN) is an electronic clearing house that provides functions similar to those provided by Federal Reserve banks' FedACH service. The Electronic Payments Network is the only private-sector operator in the ACH Network in the United States. The EPN is operated by The Clearing House Payments Company.
Nacha, originally the National Automated Clearinghouse Association, manages the ACH Network, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data in the United States, and is an association for the payments industry. The ACH Network serves as a network for direct consumer, business, and government payments, and annually facilitates billions of payments such as Direct Deposit and Direct Payment. The ACH Network is governed by the Nacha Operating Rules.
The Clearing House Automated Transfer System, or CHATS, is a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for the transfer of funds in Hong Kong. It is operated by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, a private company jointly owned by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks. Transactions in four currency denominations may be settled using CHATS: Hong Kong dollar, renminbi, euro, and US dollar. In 2005, the value of Hong Kong dollar CHATS transactions averaged HK$467 billion per day, which amounted to a third of Hong Kong's annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP); the total value of transactions that year was 84 times the GDP of Hong Kong.
Reserve Requirements for Depository Institutions is a Federal Reserve regulation governing the reserves that banks and credit unions keep to satisfy depositor withdrawals. Although the regulation still requires banks to report the aggregate balances of their deposit accounts to the Federal Reserve, most of its provisions are inactive as a result of policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The East Rutherford Operations Center (EROC) at 100 Orchard Street, East Rutherford, New Jersey, is the regional office for cash handling and banknote processing of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The facility, which was constructed by Torcon in the early 1990s, features a 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m2) three-story structure which sits on 13 acres. The structure is designed to house fail-safe operations in a secure environment. The facility also has a state-of-the art automated vault measuring one million cubic feet, used for storing United States currency. The vault is based on an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) and can hold at least USD 60 billion. Internally, the cash is transferred by automated guided vehicles (AGV).
The Clearing House is a banking association and payments company owned by the largest commercial banks in the United States. The Clearing House is the parent organization of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., which owns and operates core payments system infrastructure in the United States, including ACH, wire payments, check image clearing, and real-time payments through the RTP network, a modern real-time payment system for the U.S.
Payments as a service (PaaS) is a marketing phrase used to describe software as a service to connect a group of international payment systems. The architecture is represented by a layer – or overlay – that resides on top of these disparate systems and provides for two-way communications between the payment system and the PaaS. Communication is governed by standard APIs created by the PaaS provider.
FedACH is the Federal Reserve Banks' automated clearing house (ACH) service. In 2007, FedACH processed about 37 million transactions per day with an average aggregate value of about $58 billion. For comparison, Fedwire processed about 537,000 transactions valued at nearly $2.7 trillion per day in the same year.
An automated clearing house (ACH) is a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions, usually domestic low value payments, between participating financial institutions. It may support both credit transfers and direct debits. The ACH system is designed to process batches of payments containing numerous transactions, and it charges fees low enough to encourage its use for low-value payments.
FedNow is an instant payment service developed by the Federal Reserve for depository institutions in the United States, which allows individuals and businesses to send and receive money. The service launched on July 20, 2023. Banks will be able to build products on top of the FedNow platform. By 2024, hundreds of banks and credit unions were reportedly utilizing the service.
Financial market infrastructure refers to systems and entities involved in clearing, settlement, and the recording of payments, securities, derivatives, and other financial transactions. Depending on context, financial market infrastructure may refer to the category in general, or to individual companies or entities.