Bank of England to Rebuild Settlement System to Interface with Blockchain Platforms
By Ana Alexandre The Bank of England is planning to rebuild its Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system so that it can interface with private business and platforms using distributed ledger technology (DLT), the bank’s Governor Mark Carney announced in a speech June 21. Speaking at Mansion House in London, Carney said that the bank will conduct an “ambitious rebuild” of its RTGS system, which is, according to him, the backbone of every payment in the U.K. RTGS is a system generally used to transfer large volumes of funds between banks. The bank is looking to reorganize the existing RTGS so that private payment platforms could plug in directly to the bank’s system. “Our new, hard infrastructure will be future-proofed to your imaginations, opening up a range of potential innovations in wholesale markets, and corporate banking and retail services,” Carney said. The Governor also mentioned that the bank has begun working together with the B...