The UK’s high value, electronic payments system CHAPS has been suspended due to a technical glitch today.

The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) platform processes over 92 per cent of all intra-bank payments by value in the UK, and handled over £70 trillion last year.

The Bank of England said that it had “identified a technical issue related to some routine maintenance of the RTGS payment system, and has paused settlement while we resolve it”.

The BoE added that it would restart the system “in a controlled manner”, but that “the most important” payments were being made manually. The service moved to reassure the public that all payments – which include transactions such as house purchases – would be completed today.

Phil Kenworthy, CHAPS managing director, said: “CHAPS is currently liaising with the Bank of England who are working hard to resolve the issue – which means payments submitted today will be processed. CHAPS will be extending its operational day to enable its Participants to submit and receive CHAPS payment instructions later than normal.”

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