Technical problems beset the Bank of England’s retail-time gross settlement system (RTGS) payment system throughout much of Monday.
It led to settlement being paused temporarily.
The payment system typically processes about £277bn of transactions daily but did not work as expected at 6am.
It was feared in the mortgage market that it could lead to completions not taking place as planned, as the CHAPS bank transfer system was affected. Mark Hayward, managing director of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), said: “Whilst Monday is not the busiest day in terms of completions, the failure of the payments system for UK house purchases will have a cascading effect and it is likely any payments will now be held up for a day or more as money takes time to transfer, which also means a delay for those hoping to move. This week is half term for many, so it will be a time when a lot of people are trying to move house – no doubt it will be a frustration for those that are now delayed.
“The one part of a sale which is fixed is the completion date – with payments not being able to be processed today, this will not only have an effect in terms of the completion date moving, but also accompanying arrangements which may have been scheduled, such as moving support or van hire and the transfer of utilities to the new address.”
Phil Kenworthy, CHAPS’ managing director, said: “The Bank of England’s RTGS system is now processing payments again following a resolution of the technical issue experienced earlier today. As such, CHAPS is now processing the backlog of payments and is confident that all payments submitted today will be processed today. To help customers and to ensure payments can be processed today CHAPS is extending its operating times until 19.40 hrs. Customers are advised to contact their own bank for any queries they may have on their specific payments.”
Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the Treasury Committee, said: “A crucial part of the UK’s financial infrastructure failed for several hours today. I will be writing to the Bank of England to find out why.
“The whole economy depends on a reliable payment system. We need to have confidence that the cause has been found and addressed.”