Deputy governor tells MPs central bank now has in-house skills and IP to maintain revamped RTGS

As the last Accenture employee clocked off from supporting the Bank of England's £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street was assured it would no longer depend on the global consultancy.

Probed by MPs this week, deputy governor Dave Ramsden said he was confident the UK's central bank had the in-house skills and intellectual property to run RTGS, which it started planning in 2016.

Members of the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee, a spending watchdog, were concerned the Bank of England might end up having to pay to support the bespoke software, which manages £790 billion in transactions every day.

Committee member Rupert Lowe said: "In my experience, when you get involved in writing bespoke software, particularly with people like Accenture, if you're not careful, you end up running up a very big downstream bill."

Ramsden said: "It was a ...