Never schedule a payment for a day the currency doesn't settle
A payment dated for a settlement holiday doesn't fail loudly. It waits for the next business day, and your customer, your reconciliation and your cut-off all slip with it. Public-holiday lists don't help: the Federal Reserve is open on some days a US holiday list marks as observed.
How it works
Ask for the next business day across the settlement calendars a payment depends on. The answer skips weekends and every day either system is closed, so a payout dated for Christmas Eve lands on a day both currencies settle.
Settlement calendars are kept apart from public holidays because they differ, and each verified year names the central bank page it was checked against.
When a central bank adds a closure, the daily monitor sees the source change, a person reviews it, and the changes feed lists the date. A system that caches calendars can poll the feed and refresh only what moved.
Questions
Why not use a public-holiday list?
Settlement systems keep their own calendars. Fedwire, for example, is open on the Friday before a Saturday holiday, which public-holiday lists mark as observed. Using the wrong list moves payments a day for no reason, or sends them on a day nothing settles.
Which settlement systems are covered?
Fedwire and FedACH (USD), TARGET2 (EUR), CHAPS and Bacs (GBP), RITS (AUD), Lynx (CAD), SIC (CHF), CNAPS (CNY), CHATS (HKD), BOJ-NET (JPY), ESAS (NZD) and MEPS+ (SGD). The calendars page lists each with its sources.
How do I hear when a settlement holiday changes?
Poll the changes feed, or let us tell you: webhooks and email alerts send every date each release added, removed or changed, and when an estimated holiday is confirmed.
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