The Clearing House

Supporting services include The Clearing House Payments Authority (a payments association with over 1,000 financial institution members and corporate subscribers) and ECCHO (an entity develops and maintains rules that govern private sector check image exchange for its members, and also engages in lobbying and education).

[2] Filed by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, the lawsuit, Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, sought records showing where the Fed had lent $2 trillion of taxpayer funds during the bank bailout of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

The Federal Reserve was required to release the data within five days to Bloomberg L.P.[7][8] The Clearing House was also sued by the State of New York in Andrew Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, LLC to determine whether the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had the authority to preempt a state's right to enforce its own fair lending laws against national banks.

The New York Clearing House functioned as a quasi-central bank: setting monetary policy, issuing a form of currency, and even storing vaults of gold to back settlements.

From 1849 to 1853 –years highlighted by the California gold rush and construction of a national railroad system–the number of New York banks increased from 24 to 57.

The official reckoning of accounts, however, did not take place until Fridays, often resulting in record keeping errors and encouraging abuses.

Specie certificates soon replaced gold as the means of settling balances at the Clearing House, further simplifying the process.

Member banks had to do weekly audits, keep minimum reserve levels and log daily settlement of balances which further assured more ordered, efficient exchanges.

The new monetary system, with its stringent audits and minimum reserve standards, assumed the role that clearing houses had played.

Member banks exchange checks, coupons and other certificates of value among themselves, after which the Clearing House records the resulting charges to their accounts.