Fed sets 2027 payment service fees and publishes a revised 2027 FOMC meeting calendar

The Federal Reserve put out two pieces of housekeeping on Thursday afternoon that matter to banks and anyone who follows interest rates. In posts on its official X account, the Fed pointed to a revised tentative calendar for next year's Federal Open Market Committee meetings and, shortly after, to new prices for the payment services the Reserve Banks sell to banks and credit unions.

The 2027 meeting calendar

According to the Fed's release, issued at 12:45 p.m. EST, the committee plans to meet on these dates, all Tuesday and Wednesday pairs:

• 26-27 January
• 16-17 March
• 27-28 April
• 8-9 June
• 27-28 July
• 14-15 September
• 26-27 October
• 16-17 November
• 25-26 January 2028

The Fed said it will announce its policy decision as usual on the second day of each meeting, with one exception. The 26-27 October meeting will be dedicated to broad monetary policy strategy issues, so no policy decision is planned that day. That leaves seven scheduled rate decisions in 2027 rather than the usual eight. The release calls the schedule revised and tentative, and it does not list the earlier version.

Payment service prices for 2027

In a second release, at 1:30 p.m. EST, the Board announced pricing effective 1 January 2027 for services such as check clearing, automated clearing house (ACH) transactions, instant payments and wholesale payment and settlement services.

The Fed is required by law to set fees that recover its costs over the long run, including imputed costs such as the return on equity a private firm would earn. It said it expects to recover 101.5% of actual and imputed expenses in 2027, and that the changes add up to an estimated 1.4% average price increase for established, mature services. The full fee schedule is on FRBservices.org.

The Reserve Banks also announced changes to their check services. Check volumes are falling, the Fed said, though checks remain important for many consumers and businesses. The adjustments include optimising processing windows during low-volume periods, raising the fees banks and credit unions pay to process checks, and other operational updates. The Fed said the changes do not affect consumers.

Context

The calendar follows Governor Waller's comments this week on a possible 50 basis point hike if core inflation runs hot. The remaining 2026 meetings are not affected by Thursday's release, which covers 2027 and January 2028 only.

Analysis

Neither release changes interest rates. The October 2027 strategy meeting is the notable detail: a scheduled meeting with no planned decision gives the committee a set time to revisit its framework, and it widens the gap between the September and November 2027 decisions. For banks, the check fee increases continue a slow shift of costs onto a shrinking payment method. This article is news, not investment advice.