RITS Business Hours
RITS is available to Members for settlement across Exchange Settlement Accounts on days when banks generally are open for business in Sydney or Melbourne. RITS is closed on weekends and on the following public holidays where they are observed in NSW and Victoria: New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Queen's Birthday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
On a normal business day, RITS is open for settlement from 7:30 am until 6:30 pm in standard time and 8:30 pm in summer time (local Sydney time). The closing time varies between summer and standard time because RITS settlement hours need to align with the operating hours for Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) during the European morning. CLS is a global initiative to reduce foreign exchange settlement risk. RITS closes earlier (5:35 pm) on days where there is no Australian dollar foreign exchange settlement in CLS (usually the August NSW bank holiday and Labour Day NSW public holiday in October). Session rules govern what transactions can settle in certain periods of the RITS day.
RITS is used for settlement across Exchange Settlement Accounts of payment obligations between banks and other institutions approved by the Reserve Bank to operate an Exchange Settlement Account. These institutions may exchange and process customer payments outside these hours, but settlement between institutions of any obligations arising from those payments would occur during RITS hours.
