78th Report - The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme

Key findings

• Bank developed strong business leadership combining non-executive oversight with operational expertise; NEDs retained clear strategic sight throughout via the Court, while day-to-day decisions moved to an executive-led Renewal Executive Board.
• Bank invested 2016–2018 in detailed planning and stakeholder consultation, identifying nearly 2,000 functional and non-functional requirements, which enabled a fixed-price contract with Accenture—unusual for digital transformation—with final design closely matching original specification.
• Competitive dialogue procurement process included a practical 'competed design' exercise where final three bidders built a simplified payment system; two unsuccessful bidders each received £125,000 to incentivise participation and reduce procurement barriers.
• Bank made early strategic decision to replace legacy mainframe system with modern modular technology rather than patch existing system, reducing risk of obsolescence constraining future capability such as extended operating hours.
• Annual running costs increased from £21 million to £41 million post-launch; Bank embedded its staff with Accenture from early stages to build internal expertise, with over 1,000 improvements delivered since April 2025 launch; three priority enhancements in progress: extended operating hours (1:30am start from September 2027), synchronisation functionality, and alternative payment messaging network.

Recommendations

• DSIT should prepare a lessons-learned paper within three months identifying how the Bank overcame digital transformation challenges, specifying planned actions and addressing: digital leadership governance roles; importance of up-front design before contracting; addressing legacy systems before they become 'burning platforms'; collaborative working between business, IT, and suppliers; and skills transfer for continuous improvement rather than one-off projects.
• Cabinet Office should set out practical steps and timetable within six months to improve senior business leaders' digital business management and transformation capabilities, and strengthen the role and influence of digital specialists.
• NISTA should update guidance and support materials within six months to reflect distinct challenges of digital programmes and success factors demonstrated by RTGS modernisation.
• Digital Commercial Centre of Expertise and Government Commercial Agency should update guidance within six months to ensure adequate time for understanding business and technical complexity of digital programmes with full technical specialist engagement before contracts are let.
• DSIT should reinstate the Government Chief Digital Officer role immediately, aiming to recruit within one year a candidate with proven experience in digital business management and transformation.

Key actors

Bank of England, Sir Dave Ramsden (Deputy Governor, Markets and Banking), Victoria Cleland (Chief Cashier), Nathan Monk (Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of Technology Directorate), Accenture, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (PAC Chair), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Cabinet Office