Processing Glitch Delays Deposits at Major US Banks
Customers of several leading U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Truist, and U.S. Bank, faced deposit delays on Friday due to a technical outage. The Federal Reserve identified the issue as a processing error with its automated clearing house operator, leading to obscured data elements on ACH entries that hindered processing by receiving financial institutions.
The Federal Reserve's website later confirmed that all of its financial services were functioning normally, signaling that the core issues had been resolved.
A representative from The Clearing House (TCH), which operates the Electronic Payments Network (EPN) implicated in the processing hiccup, clarified that the problem affected less than 1% of the daily ACH transaction volume in the United States. With EPN managing about half of the U.S. commercial ACH volume, the impact was noticeable but contained.
TCH is actively engaging with affected banks to address the problems faced by their customers. Chase Bank acknowledged the issue, noting that the entities originating the deposits are attempting to resend the affected payment files, which they plan to process as soon as possible.
Bank of America reassured customers about the security of their accounts and promised that balances would be updated posthaste upon receipt of the delayed deposits.
Wells Fargo directed inquiries to TCH's statement and mentioned on platform X that its technical teams were working on a resolution. Meanwhile, Truist and U.S. Bank have not provided comments on the situation.
The incident underscores the interconnectedness of modern banking infrastructure and the widespread effects that can result from technical difficulties within it.