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

Status / emerging findings

• The Bank successfully launched the modernised RTGS in April 2025 on time and within budget—a rare success for major public-sector digital programmes.
• The Bank demonstrated strong governance: early investment in requirements-gathering (2,000 documented specifications) before procurement enabled a fixed-price contract with Accenture, reducing typical cost-overrun risk.
• Strategic in-house build decision on core settlement engine prioritised security and national infrastructure resilience over off-the-shelf solutions.
• The Bank used collaborative procurement with three competing bidders and paid unsuccessful firms to incentivise full technical participation—de-risking final vendor selection.
• Three priority enhancement areas identified post-launch: extended operating hours, technology adaptability, and future-proofing for digital currencies.

Why it matters

The RTGS underpins every sterling payment in the UK; any failure would freeze the financial system. This inquiry validates—and documents for future projects—how large digital transformations in critical infrastructure should be governed.

Tone arc

Consistently positive throughout the single evidence session (2 March 2026): the committee entered as auditors of major digital spend and departed endorsing the Bank's programme management discipline and partnership culture as 'good practice' in public-sector transformation.

Key witnesses

Dave Ramsden, Deputy Governor, Bank of England, Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier, Bank of England, Nathan Monk, Chief Information Officer, Bank of England, Accenture (contractor and delivery partner)