What is The Clearing House (TCH)?

The Clearing House (TCH) is a US banking association and payments company that owns and operates three of the country's most critical payment network infrastructures: CHIPS, EPN, and the RTP network. 

TCH dates back to 1853 and is owned by the largest commercial banks. On an average business day, its combined networks clear and settle more than $2 trillion in USD payments, spanning high-value interbank wires, commercial ACH, and real-time instant payments.

TCH is the only private-sector operator of both ACH and wire infrastructure in the United States, making it a direct counterpart to the Federal Reserve's own payment services. For fintechs and financial institutions routing USD payments, TCH networks are likely involved in some portion of every transaction corridor.

The three TCH payment networks

TCH operates three distinct networks, each designed for a different payment type and settlement model. The networks share a common regulatory framework but serve different use cases, participant sets, and value profiles.

CHIPS: large-value wire settlement

The Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS) is the largest private-sector high-value clearing and settlement system in the world. It processes the USD leg of domestic and international wire transfers for the approximately 42 participating financial institutions, which include major US, European, Asian, and Latin American banks.

CHIPS settles approximately 500,000 payments totaling $1.8 trillion (USD) per day and, together with Fedwire, forms the primary US network for large-value domestic and international USD payments, holding a market share of around 96%. Unlike Fedwire, which is a real-time gross settlement system, CHIPS uses multilateral netting: pending payments are batched and offset against each other throughout the day, with only net balances settling across Federal Reserve accounts. This significantly reduces the intraday liquidity each participant must hold.

In 2024, CHIPS liquidity efficiency reached 29:1, meaning every $1 of intraday funding supported $29 in settled payment value, up from 26:1 in 2023. The liquidity algorithm generated an average of $321 billion in daily liquidity savings for participating banks.

CHIPS migrated to the ISO 20022 message format in April 2024, making it the first high-value payment system in the US to do so, and aligning it with CHAPS, SWIFT, and other major international rails. Approximately 95% of CHIPS payments represent the USD leg of a funds transfer that begins or ends in another country.

EPN: private-sector ACH

The Electronic Payments Network (EPN) is TCH's ACH operator, running alongside Nacha's rules framework as the private-sector alternative to the Federal Reserve's FedACH. EPN and FedACH interoperate, meaning a payment originated through one network can settle to an account at a financial institution connected to the other.

In 2024, the EPN system processed 20.7 billion transactions worth $56.4 trillion, approximately half of US ACH commercial volume. EPN is used primarily for recurring and batch payment flows: payroll, direct deposit, vendor payments, consumer bill pay, and government disbursements. Like all ACH, EPN processes on a batch basis with defined submission windows and next-day or same-day settlement options, rather than per-transaction real-time settlement.

RTP network: real-time instant payments

The RTP network, launched by TCH in 2017, was the first nationwide real-time payment system in the United States. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with funds available to recipients within seconds of a payment being sent. Settlement is immediate and irrevocable; once a payment is submitted to the network, it cannot be recalled by the sending institution.

In 2024, payment value on the RTP network reached $246 billion, a 94% increase from the prior year, while volume grew 38% to 343 million transactions. The network averages over 1 million payments per day. Growth has continued sharply into 2025: in Q2 2025, the network processed $481 billion in payments, a 195% leap in value from the prior quarter, driven by the February 2025 increase of the per-transaction limit from $1 million to $10 million. 

By November 2025, the RTP network had surpassed $1.3 trillion in total payments for the year, a 428% increase from 2024's full-year total of $246 billion. Over 1,000 banks and credit unions are now live on the network, reaching approximately 71% of US demand deposit accounts. The RTP network operates alongside the Federal Reserve's FedNow service, which launched in 2023. Both systems run on the same ISO 20022 messaging standard and serve similar use cases, though they are separate networks with different participants and operators.

How TCH fits into the US payment system

TCH networks are wholesale infrastructure, meaning that end users (consumers and businesses) do not connect to them directly. Access is through a participating financial institution or a third-party service provider connected to the network. Fintechs and payment service providers typically reach TCH rails through a bank sponsor or a financial institution that holds a direct TCH connection.

The practical division of labor between TCH's three networks follows transaction size and timing requirements:

• CHIPS handles high-value, time-sensitive USD transfers, particularly for cross-border correspondent banking, interbank funding, securities settlement, and large corporate transactions
• EPN handles high-volume, lower-urgency batch payments where predictable settlement timing matters more than immediacy: payroll runs, recurring billing, direct deposit
• RTP handles time-critical payments of any size up to $10 million where immediate funds availability is required: urgent B2B settlements, disbursements, real estate closings, and account-to-account transfers outside business hours

TCH also holds a significant regulatory designation. As the operator of CHIPS, TCH has been designated a systemically important financial market utility (SIFMU) under Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act, placing it under continuous Federal Reserve supervision. This designation reflects the systemic importance of CHIPS to USD settlement globally.

Why TCH matters for fintechs

For a fintech routing USD payments across any of the major use cases, TCH networks are the underlying infrastructure for a large portion of that flow. Key considerations include:

• RTP vs. FedNow: Both are real-time US rails; RTP has broader current reach by DDA coverage but FedNow is growing. Platforms that need to guarantee instant USD settlement should evaluate reach across both networks, since not all institutions are live on both
• CHIPS for cross-border USD: International USD transfers typically travel through CHIPS as the US-side settlement leg. Understanding CHIPS settlement timing and cut-off windows is relevant for cross-border wire transfer flows and correspondent banking relationships
• EPN for ACH economics: For high-volume recurring payments where same-day settlement is not required, EPN-routed ACH remains the lowest-cost USD rail. The economics differ materially from RTP, which carries higher per-transaction fees in exchange for immediacy and irrevocability
• Payment reconciliation: ISO 20022 adoption across CHIPS and RTP enables richer remittance data per transaction, reducing manual reconciliation overhead for platforms handling large volumes

The RTP network's continued growth and the $10 million per-transaction limit mean it is increasingly viable for B2B and treasury use cases that previously could only be served by same-day ACH or Fedwire. Platforms building USD payment infrastructure should factor TCH's three-network architecture into their rail selection logic.

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