Bank of England Restores CHAPS Payment System After Temporary Outage

The Bank of England experienced a temporary outage in its CHAPS interbank payment system, which processes over $467 billion daily. The problem was resolved by the third-party supplier, and all payments are expected to be settled by the end of the day. Retail payment systems were unaffected.

The Bank of England reported a temporary disruption on Thursday to its CHAPS interbank payment system, which typically handles upwards of 360 billion pounds ($467 billion) daily. Despite the inconvenience, the bank anticipated that all pending payments would be resolved by day's end.

'We are pleased to confirm that the third-party supplier has restored service following their earlier issues, and CHAPS payments are settling as normal,' said the BoE in a statement. Most UK residents encounter CHAPS primarily during high-value transactions such as purchasing real estate, though the system processes more than 90% of sterling payments by value, assisting banks in settling sterling money market and foreign exchange transactions.

The BoE noted that retail payment systems, including debit cards and ATMs, remained functional. This incident follows previous technical issues with CHAPS, including disruptions in August of the previous year and in 2014. The system also depends on the SWIFT messaging network for secure international bank communication.

(With inputs from agencies.)