Bank of England pick Ripple partner Accenture to create payments network

The Bank of England has appointed Accenture to develop and build a “world class payments service”, according to an official press release.

The announcement states that Accenture will spearhead the Real Time Gross Settlement Service Renewal Programme (RTGS), which began in February 2019.

RTGS settles an average of £685 bn each working day in the UK, with the new system estimated to be delivered in 2022.

Victoria Cleland, Executive Director for Banking, Payments and Innovation at the Bank of England said: “This is a key milestone in our ambitious and exciting Programme to renew RTGS.  I look forward to working with Accenture, and with the industry, to develop and deliver a system that is fit for the future, supporting continued innovation in UK and global payments.

“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.”

Rippled partnered with Accenture in 2015 with the aim of providing cross-currency settlement solutions for financial institutions.

The Ripple Foundation has penned numerous partnerships with payments companies over the past five years, with the likes of MoneyGram using RippleNet for faster and cheaper cross-border payments.

For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here.