Accenture has won a deal with the Bank of England to help build the UK's new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service.
RTGS is a critical piece of national infrastructure and the backbone of UK payments, settling an average of £685 billion each working day.
Accenture was chosen as the technology delivery partner following a procurement process begun in February 2019 and will work with the central bank on a renewed system that is slated to start to be delivered in 2022.
The BofE says the service will increase resilience and access, offer wider interoperability, improve user functionality and strengthen the end-to-end risk management of the UK high value payment system.
Previously, the bank has said the rebuild will be able to interface with systems running distributed ledgers.
Victoria Cleland, executive director, banking, payments and innovation, BofE, says: "The Renewal Programme is a key priority not just for the Bank but also the wider UK payments industry. It will support a resilient financial system that protects the UK’s financial and monetary stability in the years to come.
"The renewed RTGS service will be designed not only to benefit everyone in the country who makes payments, but to keep the UK at the leading edge of payments innovation."
Sulabh Agarwal, lead, global payments practice, Accenture, adds: "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."