The central bank has released a Discussion Paper outlining its approach to the swift advancements in payment technology and how they affect the stability of money and the financial system.

The country's Real Time Gross Settlement system is now undergoing rejuvenation, with a new core ledger and several more features and capabilities on the horizon. The bank is now developing additional features including a synchronized settlement interface to RTGS, which would enable the system to communicate with other ledgers and DLT-based platforms, in addition to efforts to improve resilience.

Additionally, the bank is organizing a series of trials for a wholesale digital currency issued by the central bank. These would include, in general, PvP foreign currency transactions, DvP securities transactions, and compatibility with other global ledger projects.

There is also talk on the usage of programmable payments and tokenized money.

According to the bank, "the possibility that financial markets adopt these technologies at scale will ultimately determine how much of an impact programmable platforms could have on our monetary and financial stability objectives." According to the Bank's present view, there is still uncertainty about this happening. To guarantee that we continue to achieve our goals, it is crucial to get ready for possible mass adoption."

The Bank of England's governor, Andrew Bailey, claims that the bank's obligation to maintain monetary and financial stability is based on public trust in money and payments.

"As innovation in this space continues, our role must also evolve, to support a robust and dynamic UK economy," he continues. "By expanding on our previous efforts to develop new digital currency and modernize the Bank's RTGS infrastructure, we are now better equipped to investigate novel technologies in wholesale payments and foster increased creativity in interbank retail payments. This Discussion Paper lays out our thoughts in these areas. To accomplish that, the business sector and other authorities will need to be involved and work closely together.