Summary of the RTGS CHAPS Industry Forum
The Bank of England outlined progress on RTGS CHAPS reforms, including tokenisation, extended settlement hours, synchronisation, and structured address mandates, with industry feedback shaping future plans.
The Bank of England’s Head of Payment Delivery chaired the second RTGS CHAPS industry forum, noting the publication of June’s minutes. Officials provided an update on tokenisation efforts involving the Bank, HM Treasury, and the FCA, highlighting potential efficiency gains, new product opportunities, and resilience improvements. Feedback from a joint call for input indicated industry readiness to progress beyond pilot phases, prompting a cross-authority roadmap planned for the fourth quarter. The Bank also outlined RTGS initiatives, including extended settlement hours and synchronisation, as key components of this transition.
The Bank reported broad support for longer RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours, though respondents differed on implementation sequencing. Feedback favoured weekday extensions before adding Sundays or bank holidays, with the Bank yet to finalise its approach. The consultation’s three drivers—innovation, cross-border payments, and liquidity management—were discussed, alongside operational challenges such as liquidity, participation, and incident management. The Bank confirmed work on CHAPS opening from 1.30am is underway, with initial estimates suggesting around 20% of payments by volume will settle before 6am.
Officials outlined plans to introduce synchronisation functionality into RTGS, enabling atomic settlement of external asset ledgers against sterling central bank money. Potential uses include tokenised asset transactions and margin optimisation, though ecosystem readiness and scaling challenges were noted. The Bank is addressing practical arrangements, including the role of synchronisation operators and regulatory expectations, with plans to publish details in early 2027. A showcase event in November 2026 will demonstrate testing in the synchronisation lab.
The Bank delayed the November 2026 RTGS Standards Release following Swift’s postponement of its Standards Release 2026, citing concerns over unstructured address fields. Members supported exploring a mandate for structured addresses in the CHAPS rulebook ahead of Swift’s retirement of unstructured fields. Discussions highlighted dependencies on customer readiness and the UK’s sort-code directory, with interoperability with Swift channels a key concern. The Bank also addressed settlement contingency arrangements, noting current small-scale solutions and the potential for non-settlement days during disruptions, while exploring automation for scalability.