We ask firms to plan on the basis that operational disruption will occur, and so the focus of our work has been on the ability of firms, FMIs , including CHAPS - run by the Bank, and the sector as a whole not only to prevent, but to ensure that they can respond to, recover and learn from operational disruptions. 8  Financial Policy Summary and Record (March 2019). Available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financial-policy-summary-andrecord/2019/march-2019 9 Key elements of the 2019 stress test (March 2019). Available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2019/march/key-elements-ofthe-2019-stress-test 10 Building the UK financial sector’s operational resilience. Available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/prudentialregulation/publication/2018/building-the-uk-financial-sectors-operational-resilience-discussion-paper 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  4  Innovation and resilience of the Bank’s own operations  The Bank, and other authorities, can provide a platform for innovation through the hard and soft infrastructure it provides. The Bank’s biggest piece of hard infrastructure is RTGS; settling around £ every day, RTGS is at the backbone of UK payments, and a piece of critical national infrastructure. RTGS eliminates settlement risks; claims between banks and other participants are able to be settled in central bank money – the ultimate liquid asset. And RTGS plays an important role in the post-trade system. CREST11 and CLS12 both settle through RTGS, enabling us to deliver safe settlement in central bank money to post-trade infrastructure. The Bank’s operation of CHAPS and RTGS contributes to meeting its financial stability remit, and our renewal of the RTGS service is another of the Bank’s strategic goals13.
We have now finished our ‘Plan Analyse Design’ phase of the programme, meaning we have defined its scope, with input from the payments industry. We’re on track with the next phase of the Programme, where we are running a competitive procurement process under the Official Journal of the European Union to appoint a Technology Deliver Partner to work with the Bank on the design and build of the settlement engine, the foundational part of this core financial infrastructure. Increased operational resilience is at the heart of the renewed RTGS service – which aims to offer best in class resilience. We are building on today’s functionality with increased resilience and strengthened end to end risk management, to enhance our ability to identify, mitigate, and respond to the most significant risks, including cyber risk. In this context, I’d like to highlight that CHAPS members have recently commended GFMA’s work14 on developing a ‘Cybersecurity Profile’ to us, in our role as systemic risk manager for CHAPS. Additionally we are recognising the changing environment in which RTGS operates – the demand for faster, simpler, cheaper and more flexible ways to pay. And we are ensuring the new system will be a flexible, innovative sterling settlement system fit for the future, contributing to a more diverse and resilient payment landscape. I’m going to highlight some of the ways we are delivering this. We are exploring whether the new service could facilitate synchronised settlement.