Bank wires worth trillions of dollars halted by US Fed’s “operational error”

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Over 3 trillion dollars in daily transactions for the world’s biggest banks were disrupted Wednesday, according to an alert status on the Fed’s website announcing a disruption in several business lines for Fedwire, FedACH, and 11 other areas affecting wire transfers, ACH transactions and check-clearing in the U.S. banking system. About 850,000 transactions each day move an average daily volume of $3.4 trillion.

“We are restoring services and are communicating with all Federal Reserve Financial Services customers about the status of operations,” says an email from the Fed explaining that Fedwire is “the premier electronic funds-transfer service that banks, businesses, and government agencies rely on for mission-critical, same-day transactions.”

By Milan Sime Martinic