CHAPS crash sparks Bank of England investigation 21 October 2014London Reporter: Stephanie Palmer
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The Bank of England has launched an official investigation in to the failing of the CHAPS system that halted payments to thousands of customers.
The electronic payment system was affected by the bank’s Real-Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS), which struggled to restart on Monday after maintenance at the weekend.
By value, about 80 percent of CHAPS payments are wholesale financial payments, and it is often used by solicitors in the final stages of property purchases. The fault meant many of these transactions could not be finalised, leaving customers stranded at the last minute, unable to move home.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, has launched an independent review in to the causes of the failure, the effectiveness of the response, and lessons learned for future contingency plans.
Findings will be presented to a court and a full report published.
The service usually runs from 6am to 4pm on weekdays, but as the service was resumed at about 4pm, the operating time was extended until 7.40pm.
By 8pm a total of 142,759 payments had been processed, a number in line with the average volumes for a Monday.
Phil Kenworthy, managing director of CHAPS Co, said in a statement: "Following the operational incident at the Bank of England … CHAPS would like to apologise for any delays any customers may have experienced with their payments and would ask that anyone impacted by this contact their bank or building society for assistance."
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