Committee publication · Correspondence · 13 July 2026
Letter from the Deputy Governor, Markets and Banking at the Bank of England relating to The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme, 30 June 2026
Summary
The Bank of England's Deputy Governor responds to a Public Accounts Committee report on the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Renewal Programme. The Bank welcomes the committee's findings and outlines its implementation of recommended actions: sharing lessons across government, extending RTGS/CHAPS settlement hours toward 24x7 capability, launching a Synchronisation Lab for payment innovations, and systematically embedding delivery lessons across its wider change portfolio.
Key findings
- Bank of England participated in a May 2026 NAO-hosted panel sharing RTGS Renewal Programme lessons with multiple government departments and is engaging directly with public bodies.
- The Bank is consulting on extending RTGS/CHAPS settlement hours toward near 24x7 settlement, with early morning extension planned from September 2027.
- A Synchronisation Lab has opened to enable firms to test synchronised payments use cases, with live delivery targeted for 2028.
- The Bank is applying delivery insights from RTGS Renewal (governance, commercial management, complex technical delivery) across its broader change portfolio through central planning and assurance functions.
- RT2 platform is positioned to support enhanced resilience, improved contingency arrangements, and innovation benefits including faster and cheaper cross-border payments.
Tone
SupportiveTopics
Key actors
Dave Ramsden, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Victoria Cleland, Nathan Monk, Bank of England, Public Accounts Committee, National Audit Office
Notable line
“Extended settlement hours will support new settlement models such as synchronisation and has the potential to support faster …”
Key Quotes
“The Bank of England (the Bank) welcomes these findings.”
“Extended settlement hours will support new settlement models such as synchronisation and has the potential to support faster, cheaper and more efficient cross-border payments as well as improved liquidity efficiency.”
“We are committed to working with industry to realise these benefits.”
“Through our central planning and assurance functions, we are systematically capturing key delivery insights on governance, commercial management, and complex technical delivery and applying these to other major programmes.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗