The central bank has published a Discussion Paper that sets out the its response to rapid innovations in payments and their impact on monetary and financial stability

Already in the pipeline is an ongoing renewal programme for the nation's Real Time Gross Settlement system which includes a new core ledger and a range of new features and capabilities. Alongside moves to enhance resilience, the bank is currently working on new features such as a synchronised settlement interface to RTGS, which would allow the system to interoperate with other ledgers and DLT-based platform.

The bank is also planning a programme of experiments for a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency. Broadly these would cover, DvP securities transactions, PvP foreign exchange transactions and interoperability with other global ledger initiatives.

The use of tokenised money and programmable payments is also up for discussion.

States the bank: "The extent to which programmable platforms could impact on our monetary and financial stability objectives will ultimately depend on the likelihood that financial markets take up these technologies at scale. The Bank’s current assessment is that the likelihood of this remains uncertain. However, preparation for potential widespread adoption is important to ensure we continue to meet our objectives."

Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, says confidence in money and payments is fundamental to the bank’s responsibility for monetary and financial stability.

"As innovation in this space continues, our role must also evolve, to support a robust and dynamic UK economy," he says. "Building on our work in recent years on new forms of digital money and renewing the Bank’s own RTGS infrastructure, we can now do more to explore new technologies in wholesale payments and to encourage greater innovation in interbank retail payments. To do that will require input and close collaboration from the private sector and other authorities, and this Discussion Paper sets out our thinking in these areas.”

The Bank invites responses to the Discussion Paper by 31 October 2024.