Committee publication · Correspondence · 14 May 2026
Letter from the Chief Cashier and Senior Advisor to the Governors at the Bank of England relating to follow-up to the evidence session, 27 April 2026
From: Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry: The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme
Summary
Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier at the Bank of England, writes to the Public Accounts Committee to provide clarifications to her oral evidence given on 2 March 2026 regarding the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Renewal Programme. The letter requests that three minor corrections be added as footnotes to the evidence transcript, relating to governance structure, transition state terminology, and the operational limitations of 24/7 settlement services.
Key findings
- Non-executive directors attended RTGS Renewal Committee meetings as members only, not as chairs alongside Ron, contrary to initial testimony
- TS2.1 (Transition State 2.1) was specifically the June 2023 implementation of ISO 20022 messaging standard for CHAPS, representing a staged delivery approach to manage technology risk
- Bank of England cannot unilaterally operate RTGS 24/7; realisation of near 24/7 benefits depends on industry participants also extending their operational hours
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Victoria Cleland, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Sir Dave Ramsden, Nathan Monk, Bank of England
Notable line
“Governance needs to evolve through different stages of programmes.”
Key Quotes
“I am writing to the Committee to provide some minor clarifications to my comments in the evidence session and would ask if these clarifications can be included as footnotes within the transcript.”
“Other non-execs only attended RTGS Renewal Committee meetings as members and did not Chair meetings.”
“TS2.1 refers to Transition State 2.1. Delivery of the Programme was organised in staged 'transition states', with each state providing new functionality but capable of stand- alone operation, to help manage increased risk from introducing a new technology structure.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗