Bank of England payments system modernisation: PAC examines what can be learned from its success
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hear from senior representatives of the Bank of England on its efforts to update the Real-Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS) on Monday 2 March, at 3.30pm.
Meeting details
The RTGS, operated by the Bank of England (BoE), transfers payments worth around £790bn a day between relevant parties. The RTGS is vital to the UK's monetary and financial stability, underpinning the UK's sterling payment systems such as Bacs, the retail payments system.
In response to changes in the payments landscape, including the increased reliance on digital payment methods, the BoE announced its intention to modernise the RTGS in 2016, contracting Accenture as its technical delivery partner in 2020.
A recent report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found the RTGS had been successfully launched by the BoE at a cost of £431m – 15% higher than the original £375m approved budget, an increase viewed as reasonable by the National Audit Office (NAO) given the programme’s size and complexity. The NAO also highlighted the BoE’s ability to address many common problems identified in other public sector digital programmes, despite the need for several major replans during its delivery.
Given the apparent success of the RTGS, the PAC will explore the steps taken by the BoE throughout the programme to determine what lessons could be learned from the governance, procurement and ability to work with commercial partners.
MPs could also consider how the BoE will manage wider organisational issues with technology obsolescence affecting its IT to ensure changes made continue to benefit consumers in the future.