The bank launched a Payments Transformation Programme (PTP) to consolidate the dual payment estates into a single, modern, and highly resilient outsourced managed service.

This involved:

• Transitioning all Faster Payments, CHAPS, and SWIFT (international) processing to the managed service provider.
• Implementing a new Liquidity Management Tool to improve cash visibility and control.
• Aligning with major industry-wide transformations including the migration to ISO 20022 message standards and the Bank of England's Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Renewal Programme.

The Challenge

Delivering the Payments Transformation Programme required coordination between multiple suppliers and internal teams, creating complexity in a multi-vendor environment. This involved:

• Fragmented supplier collaboration. Each vendor operated in silos, often leading to delays and friction. One supplier would halt progress citing dependencies on another team, rather than operating as a single, integrated unit.
• A gap in payments expertise. The initial supplier teams lacked sufficient depth in high-value payments and industry-specific standards such as CHAPS, SWIFT, Faster Payments, and SEPA. This limited the bank’s ability to progress confidently through key design and delivery milestones.
• Excessive supplier costs. Existing suppliers were extremely expensive and not delivering the level of expertise expected. The bank needed a more cost-effective and higher-quality proposition that could deliver immediate impact.
• Tight delivery timelines. With regulatory deadlines approaching, the bank needed to reinforce the programme quickly with the right talent and a more collaborative delivery model.