July 30, 2020

Bank of England Selects Accenture to Renew Its Real-Time Gross Settlement Service

Accenture to support the delivery of new high-value payments infrastructure in the U.K.

LONDON; July 30, 2020 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has been selected to work with the Bank of England to renew the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service to support resilience and innovation in payments and settlements in the U.K.

In this role, Accenture will be the technology delivery partner for the RTGS Renewal Programme, working with the Bank of England to deliver this critical national payments infrastructure. The RTGS Renewal Programme includes building and integrating the new RTGS platform and improving data access and providing a service that will support the financial services sector and their customers in the years to come.

The RTGS service is the infrastructure that holds accounts for banks, building societies and other institutions delivering final and risk-free settlement. The service plays a critical role in the U.K. economy, processing approximately £685 billion worth of transactions each working day.

The renewed RTGS service will be designed to respond to the changing structure of the financial system, give access to a wider number of firms, ensure resilience is at the heart of the service, offer wider interoperability and improved functionality, and strengthen end-to-end risk management of the U.K.’s high value payment system.

Sulabh Agarwal, a managing director at Accenture who leads its global payments practice, said, “The RTGS Renewal Programme will enable the Bank of England to enhance its critical infrastructure in one of the most important initiatives for the U.K. payments system. The rise of digital and instant payments in recent years has dramatically changed the way we pay, reflecting changes in the needs of households and companies. The renewed system will enable financial institutions to access a more modern and secure payments platform which is fit for the future.”

The RTGS Renewal Programme is being delivered in multiple transition states to minimise risk and is expected to run until 2025. More information can be found on the Bank of England’s website.

Notes to editors
The Bank of England’s announcement about this project can be found here.

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries – powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centres. With 513,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

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Contact:

Petra Shuttlewood
Accenture
+44 7887 792214
petra.shuttlewood@accenture.com