Federal Reserve Operating Circular No. 5 (General Financial Service Provisions)

Systems it applies to

• Fedwire →
• FedNow →
• FedACH / Nacha →

Publisher: Federal Reserve →

Versions ClearingPost holds (2)

1. May 2026effective 15 May 2026current

   What changed: Version effective 15 May 2026, superseding the version effective 5 January 2026. Operating Circular 5 sets the general terms applicable across all financial services of the Reserve Banks, including the FedACH Services, the Fedwire Funds Service and the FedNow Service. The May 2026 version is organised in Part A (general terms for all financial services) and Part B (supporting services: Electronic Access, E-Payments Routing Directory, Exception Resolution Service, Payee Name Verification Service and API Service); the January 2026 version set out the Payee Name Verification Service terms in Appendix E. Federal Reserve Financial Services describes the May 2026 update as only a reorganization of the circular into these two parts, with some minor, non-substantive revisions.

   This version at the publisher ↗
2. January 2026effective 5 Jan 2026

   What changed: Version effective 5 January 2026, when Operating Circular 5 was retitled from Electronic Access to General Financial Service Provisions and, as part of the operating circular modernization, became the place for terms common to all Reserve Bank financial services. It added an appendix (Appendix E) setting out the terms for the Payee Name Verification Service. Superseded by the version effective 15 May 2026.

   Publisher page (not this version) ↗