Bank of England takes control of £431M settlement system from Accenture

The Bank of England has successfully transitioned its £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system to in-house management, marking the end of its reliance on global consultancy Accenture. The central bank's deputy governor, Dave Ramsden, told MPs this week that the institution now possesses the technical expertise and intellectual property rights to independently operate and enhance the system that processes £790 billion in daily transactions.

The RTGS system, which went live in April 2025, represents a significant upgrade from the previous mainframe-based technology that had become increasingly difficult to maintain due to specialist hardware requirements and a shortage of relevant skills. The new platform leverages cloud-native technologies while remaining internally hosted, providing greater flexibility and scalability for the UK's financial infrastructure.

Ending the consultancy dependency

Members of the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee expressed concern about the potential for ongoing dependency on external suppliers, a situation that has affected other government departments. Committee member Rupert Lowe highlighted the risk of accumulating substantial downstream costs when dealing with bespoke software development, particularly with large consultancies.

Ramsden reassured the committee that the contract with Accenture was structured to ensure knowledge transfer and IP ownership remained with the Bank of England. "It was a key part of the contract with Accenture that they would pass everything back to us to run, so we are not contracting out," he explained. "In fact, Friday (February 27) was the last involvement of Accenture."

Building internal capability

The Bank of England took deliberate steps to develop its in-house technical capability throughout the project. Nathan Monk, the bank's chief information officer, revealed that a co-location strategy was implemented from the beginning, with Bank of England staff embedded within Accenture teams during the development phase.

"It has been a conscious decision. We embedded people in the Accenture team real early on, and we've grown that capability throughout the time as well," Monk told the committee. This approach ensured that the bank's technology experts gained the necessary experience to handle system issues, perform maintenance, and drive innovation.

Ramsden emphasized that the bank now has the capacity to both troubleshoot problems and develop new features: "We have technology experts who, [when we] have one of these instances, we'll get to what's happened. We'll be able to work it out from the code. We can fix it. On the innovation agenda, these are the people who are going to be enhancing the system."

Cost implications and value assessment

The transition to in-house management has resulted in increased annual operating and maintenance costs, rising from £21 million to approximately £41 million, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report. However, Ramsden explained that this increase reflects the true cost of running the system internally rather than the previous arrangement.

While the overall RTGS program cost £431 million, representing a 15 percent increase over the original plan and exceeding the 11 percent risk contingency, the NAO concluded that these additional costs were justified. "The increase in cost was reasonable given the size and complexity of the program, and the number of uncertainties and risks that the bank had to manage," the auditors stated.

The Bank of England operates as a public body funded through fees for regulating financial institutions, income from banking services and banknote issuance, management fees charged to government agencies, and returns on investments accumulated over more than 300 years. The institution generates more income than it spends and contributes millions of pounds to the UK Treasury annually.

Context and comparison

The successful in-house transition contrasts with other government IT projects where departments have become dependent on external suppliers. For instance, in January last year, the UK tax collector awarded Accenture an additional £35.2 million without competition to run the National Insurance and PAYE System (NPS), citing the need for specialized expertise to manage technical risks and complex interdependencies.

The Bank of England's approach demonstrates a model for government organizations seeking to build internal technical capabilities while leveraging external expertise for complex system development. By maintaining ownership of intellectual property and strategically embedding staff within supplier teams, the central bank has positioned itself to manage critical financial infrastructure independently while retaining the flexibility to innovate and adapt to future requirements.

The RTGS system's successful transition represents a significant achievement in public sector IT management, balancing the need for cutting-edge technology with the imperative of maintaining control over critical national infrastructure. As financial transactions continue to grow in volume and complexity, the Bank of England's in-house capability will be crucial for ensuring the resilience and efficiency of the UK's payment systems.