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A platform for industry to demonstrate use cases and understand business models for synchronisation, helping us validate design choices and progress towards delivery into production of a new synchronisation capability for the renewed RTGS service.
About the Synchronisation Lab
The Synchronisation Lab (‘the Lab’) is a non-live environment that would allow prospective synchronisation operators to demonstrate how they would interact with the RT2 synchronisation capability that we are designing (RT2 is our renewed core ledger and settlement engine), and what services they could offer to synchronisation users. Synchronisation users include: RTGS account holders; operators of asset ledgers; and end-customers in relevant asset markets.
The Project Meridian series of experiments has already demonstrated that the synchronisation operator concept is a technically feasible and interoperable way to facilitate atomic settlement in central bank money. The Lab will build on Meridian by providing a venue for hands-on experimentation by multiple prospective synchronisation operators, for various use cases, in a more realistic and complete setting.
In October 2025, we announced the Synchronisation Lab – a platform for industry to demonstrate use cases and understand business models for synchronisation. We received a strong wave of applications. We’re delighted to announce that 18 organisations have been selected to take part. These organisations will be testing a diverse range of use cases, reflecting the depth of interest and commitment across the sector.
This momentum underscores the UK’s position as a hub for financial innovation. The Lab will run from spring 2026 for around six months, allowing participating synchronisation operators to test use cases, demonstrate how they would interact with RT2 and synchronisation users, and to share learnings relevant to the design of a future live service.
What are the Synchronisation Lab’s key aims?
The Lab’s key aims are:
Validating the Bank’s design choices for an RT2 synchronisation capability. By testing various scenarios, we will be able to better evaluate design options for the exchange of information between RT2 and synchronisation operators.
Demonstrating synchronisation’s flexibility. We invite Lab Participants to showcase the multiple use cases and benefits they could offer to synchronisation users by leveraging the RT2 synchronisation capability currently being developed by the Bank.
Supporting ecosystem readiness. We want to enable prospective synchronisation users to observe and evaluate different options for the end-to-end settlement of a synchronised transaction.
Lab Participants are expected to demonstrate their end-to-end proposition for synchronisation as fully as possible. They are encouraged to build on top of the Lab platform to show their proposed interactions with synchronisation users. Lab Participants are expected to bring in synchronisation users – or to emulate their behaviours and key attributes – as required.
The Lab is one of several mutually supportive innovation initiatives that we are pursuing. For example, synchronisation may interest firms in the Bank’s Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), which facilitates innovation in the issuance, trading and settlement of securities in the UK. The Lab provides a route for DSS firms to test settlement of digital-security transactions in sterling central bank money.
The Lab is not a regulatory sandbox and will not support real-money payments.
Primary area of focus for each synchronisation operator
Primary area of focus
Synchronisation operator participating in the Lab
Delivery vs Payment and Payment vs Payment - multi-purpose
Liquidity optimisation for non-financial corporates
Quant
Multi-purpose orchestration platform
LSEG
GBTD
Decentralised solution provider
Chainlink
UAC Labs
Michael Jones, our Director of Payment Operations, shares more in a video about what synchronisation is, and what we are looking to achieve in the Synchro Lab. This provide context for the videos, linked in the table below, from certain organisations participating in the Synchro Lab explaining more about their propositions and how these will use the synchronisation functionality.
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Areas of focus for Lab Participants
Organisation
Proposed areas of focus
Detail of use cases
Further information
Demo video
Atumly
Multi-money issuance and redemption
Atumly will test how digital money (e.g. stablecoin) issuance and redemption can be coordinated with fiat payment settlement.
Multi-purpose orchestration platform, securities vs payment - tokenised securities, and Payment vs Payment - cross-border spot FX
LSEG will test multi-bank FX Transactions and repo, and PVP transactions, integrating with LSEG's Digital Settlement House (DiSH) platform, and other banks and payment service providers.
Monee will test settlement of HM Treasury's Digital Gilt instrument (DIGIT), and cross currency settlement, integrating with Monee's activities in the Digital Securities Sandbox.
NPTN (LMS) will test a housing remortgage transaction alongside title registration, and integrating with its NPTN sandbox and HM Land Registry to show synchronisation within an end-to-end transaction flow.
Multi-money issuance and redemption, and securities vs payment - tokenised securities
Nuvante will test issuance and redemption flows for new forms of digital money (e.g. stablecoins) and settlement of tokenised-security transactions (e.g. bonds).
OSTTRA will test coordination of variation margin release with confirmed cash flow payments, integrating with OSTTRA’s triResolve Margin settlement service and other banks and payment service providers.
PEXA will test a housing purchase or remortgage transaction integrating with transaction stakeholders and HM Land Registry to show an end to end transaction flow.
Transpact will test a range of use cases, including sale/purchase of all types of financial securities, derivatives and assets, different deposit type situations, and property sale/purchases, amongst other use-cases.
We expect the Lab to launch in spring 2026 and to run for around six months.
Application stage
Applications closed on 28 November 2025. Information about successful applicants and their use cases can be found below.
Before the Lab is operational
Successful applicants will receive more detailed specifications. They will then have around two months to build or develop their prototypes. During this time, they will be able to iterate with us on their design and build to support quick integration when the Lab launches.
While the Lab is operational
Lab Participants will use the capabilities that we provide to test their use cases; demonstrate how they would (as a synchronisation operator) interact with RT2 and synchronisation users; and discuss their in-Lab activities and learnings with us and key stakeholder groups as appropriate.
After the Lab closes
Lab Participants will be invited to present their use cases and findings at an industry showcase. We will publish a report summarising the key learnings for the live functionality. We will use the Lab’s findings to support ongoing design and subsequent development work towards delivering an RTGS synchronisation capability into production.
What is the design of the Synchronisation Lab?
The Lab will enable its participants (prospective synchronisation operators) to simulate the basic interactions required to achieve synchronised settlement.
The Lab is designed to function as a platform. Our expectation is that Lab Participants will build the additional elements required to integrate with the Lab functionality and demonstrate their use cases when using the Lab. This could include elements required to integrate with their own test platforms; and to demonstrate how they would integrate with synchronisation users (RTGS account holders, asset ledger operators, and end-customers in relevant markets) to achieve an end-to-end synchronisation transactions.
Figure 1: Design of the Synchronisation Lab
The Lab will emulate selected key capabilities of RT2, at the basic level required to simulate synchronised settlement. These are:
Settlement engine: Houses the essential functions required to settle and manage a transaction.
User interface: Offers Lab Participants visibility on transactions that they orchestrate, along with other relevant information.
Application Programming Interface (API) layer: Provides a suite of APIs for Lab Participants to oversee and control the complete lifecycle of settling a transaction within the Lab.
The Lab will explore at least two different synchronisation models. These will help the Bank, RTGS account holders, and prospective synchronisation operators to evaluate different options for orchestration and information exchange across reliability, customer service, cost, and other parameters.
Proposed Model 1: Synchronisation operators send the earmarking instruction to RT2 and instruct the final settlement.
Proposed Model 2: RTGS account holders send the earmarking instruction, under direction from a synchronisation operator. Synchronisation operators instruct the final settlement. In the Lab, the earmarking instruction would be simulated from the Lab Participant.
Two further models will also be considered based on the feedback gathered during initial experimentation. These may test additional controls that RTGS account holders could apply.
In all models, it is envisaged that synchronisation operators will need the ability to request funds to be earmarked and released, and be able to cancel a transaction.
