Terms of Reference
Purpose
The RTGS CHAPS Industry Forum (the ‘Forum’) is to support an ongoing and effective two-way dialogue between the executive responsible for RTGS and CHAPS and a balanced group of senior and experienced users and other interested stakeholders in respect of the RTGS and CHAPS services.
The Bank’s strategic goals for the RTGS and CHAPS services are:
- Resilient and responsive operations that ensure that the critical services at the heart of all UK payments are delivered to the highest standards of risk management and operational resilience.
- Innovative services and policies, that we work with our users to design and develop, which evolve with the changing world and promote modernisation in the wider payments landscape.
The Forum is advisory to the area of Bank responsible for the RTGS and CHAPS services through its Chair. It has no decision-making responsibilities and is not a statutory body.
Activities of the Forum
There are two overarching objectives for the Forum:
- To provide informed views to help us understand industry needs and ensure the RTGS and CHAPS services are designed, developed and operated in a way that meets those needs and our stated strategy and objectives. This includes our activities spanning strategy setting, change delivery and ongoing operations.
- To provide an insight into how we design, develop and operate the RTGS and CHAPS services as part of our wider approach to transparency and accountability.
The Forum will meet at least three times a year for us to engage the Forum on a range of topics to do with the RTGS and CHAPS services. This include the strategic direction and context within which the RTGS and CHAPS services are operated.
The Forum will be chaired by the Bank’s Director, Payment Operations. The chair is ultimately responsible for sharing views from the Forum with the executive responsible for the RTGS and CHAPS services as well as the RTGS CHAPS Board, including its independent members.
Membership composition, roles and responsibilities
There will be around fifteen members. Member should be able to provide informed views and bring a good understanding of the broad interests of their respective sectors. Members should be senior executives within their own organisation while acting in an independent capacity.
Members are expected to offer candid advice and robust challenge, and take a view beyond that of their organisation. Members are not expected to be a formal conduit to and from their respective sectors. Instead, members should express illustrative views based on their experience and understanding of the sector they operate in.
Members should be aware of their obligations under competition law. In particular, members should avoid potentially anti-competitive behaviour or sharing competitively-sensitive information. Any member that has competition concerns should contact the Chair and/or Secretariat without delay.
Members will be selected by the Bank, from a number of sectors including: large CHAPS Direct Participants; other financial institutions (who may have direct or indirect access to CHAPS and/or settle in one of the retail payment systems in RTGS); end-users; and other interested stakeholders.
Supporting governance processes for the Forum
Membership
- Members will be appointed for up to three years unless otherwise agreed with the Chair.
- Members are responsible for identifying and declaring any relevant conflicts of interest. If appropriate, recusal from specific agenda items may be considered or required by the Chair or the Bank.
- Members are not required to sign non-disclosure agreements.
- Membership is conferred on an individual, reflecting their skills, knowledge and experience. If a member steps down, a replacement is not necessarily appointed from the same organisation.
- Given the importance attached to the input of named members, alternates will not necessarily be permitted.
- Independent members of the RTGS CHAPS Board will have a standing invite to attend.
Meetings – agenda and papers
- The agenda and any supporting papers will be circulated at least four working days before each meeting, where possible.
- Written feedback may be provided off-line.
Meeting summary
- We will aim to share a summary on the Bank’s website no later than ten working days following the Forum. Comments will typically be attributed at the level of constituency rather than individual members.
Confidentiality
- The Bank will highlight any sensitive content that is not appropriate for further distribution within member’s organisations and relevant trade associations. However, information shared by external members of the Forum should not be attributed to specific organisations without consent.
- By participating in the Forum, members agreed to the Bank using their contact details in respect of the Forum as well as the RTGS and CHAPS services.
Terms of Reference
- These terms of reference were approved by the Bank in March 2026. The terms of reference will be reviewed regularly.
Other user/stakeholder engagement relating to the RTGS and CHAPS services
There are a number of other channels, other than the Forum, through which the Bank seeks input from users. These include:
- Bilateral, senior engagement
- Surveys and discussion/consultation papers
- A range of working groups including the Participant Engagement Forum and its working groups for CHAPS DPs; delivery groups tailored to specific workstreams; as well as co-creation groups aligned with features under the Future Roadmap for RTGS.
