The Federal Reserve Bank is open until 2:59 AM EST on December 25, 2019. That is correct…even though the calendar day of Christmas starts at Midnight on December 25, the Federal Reserve Processing Day does not follow the calendar day, but a Julian Day format which runs from 3:00 AM – 2:59 AM the next day. So, December 24, 2019 is Julian Day 358 (since 2019 is not a leap year) and does not become Julian Date 359 until 3:00 AM in the early morning calendar day of December 25, 2019.

What does this mean to your ACH Processing?

• All Same Day ACH credits received in your Noon ET ACH file on December 24th (identified with a Julian Date of 358) will settle in your Federal Reserve Account at 1:00 PM ET and be made available for cash withdrawal by 1:30 PM Local Time on December 24th.
• All Same Day ACH credits received in your 4:00 PM ET ACH file on December 24th (identified with a Julian Date of 358) will settle in your Federal Reserve Account at 5:00 PM ET and be made available for cash withdrawal by 5 PM Local Time on December 24th.
• All non-Same Day ACH credits received in ACH files on December 24th, with a Settlement Date of December 26th, (Julian Date of 360) must be made available no later than 9:00 AM Local Time on December 26th.
• All returns for transactions with a Settlement Date of December 24th (identified with a Julian Date of 358) items must be processed so they are made available to the ODFI no later than the opening of business on December 27th.