england today finds itself in the far more fortunate position of renewing its critical infrastructure through choice rather than necessity. rtgs was launched in 1996, and the world, let alone the financial system, has changed dramatically in the intervening 22 years. rtgs has undergone various upgrades but now is time for a more fundamental renewal. technology is changing, the payments landscape is changing and the demands of users and potential users are changing. there are also a wide range of domestic and international policy changes ranging from the creation of the new payments architecture to the implementation of psd2 so now seems an opportune time to promote the transformation of the payments landscape. the bank is committed to introducing the new service in a safe and sustainable way which ensures the integrity of the high - value payments system and provides for close levels of co - ordination with participants. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches a core objective in the renewal programme is to ensure the resilience and safety of the uk ’ s payment infrastructure whilst also supporting competition and innovation in the financial services industry. we want to support new ways of doing business and serving society ’ s payment needs. our vision of the future rtgs was set out in a blueprint published in 2017. in developing this vision we undertook considerable dialogue with industry : it is essential that the new system meets its needs. our vision five guiding principles sit behind our vision for the renewed real - time gross settlement service. higher resilience : resilience to operational and security issues will be at the heart of the new service, as it is today. the renewed rtgs will continue to offer best - in - class resilience which means it will be designed to deliver an improved objective of zero or near - zero downtime for currently known resilience problems. broader access : the bank wishes to promote membership of rtgs and has made steps towards this by extending direct access to rtgs accounts for non - bank payment service providers ( psps ). we will also continue to focus on streamlining the onboarding and testing regimes for direct members. wider interoperability : we will promote ways in which users can reroute payments especially if outages occur. this will reduce the risk of downtime and help to keep the economy moving. implementation of the iso 20022 common credit message ( ccm ) across chaps, bacs and fps will aide in this. improved user functionality : the new system will be designed

cleviston haynes : in search of practical solutions to strengthen economic growth opening remarks by mr cleviston haynes, acting governor of the central bank of barbados, at the 37th annual review seminar, bridgetown, 26 july 2017. * * * let me extend a warm welcome to this 37th annual review seminar of the central bank of barbados. i wish especially to welcome those who have joined us from overseas on this occasion. to all participants, presenters, discussants and support staff, i wish on behalf of the bank to convey our appreciation for your ongoing show of support for our conference over the years and we want to say a big thank you to you for your effort and participation again in 2017. the annual review seminar was conceptualised in the early 1980s to provide an outlet for the young economists in the bank ’ s research department to share their work in progress with their peers in and outside of the bank. for those of us there in the early years, it represented an opportunity for us to have our papers discussed by more experienced economists, including our former professors such as sir frank alleyne and professors andrew downes and michael howard. over time, some of the research presented at these sessions was eventually published in the bank ’ s economic review or in well - respected academic journals. tough but fair criticism of my own research efforts at various annual review seminars has been instrumental in my own development, and has enhanced my ability to systematically examine issues, assisted by a range of formal tools even while acknowledging limitations on existing range of information. this is perhaps an aspect of the profession that remains underdeveloped in my view, because as sir courtney blackman has rightly noted, the profession is centred on its ability to persuade, and policies can only be effected if the economists possess the ability to persuade policy makers of the merits of their particular argument. as the seminar grew, we have been able to attract to barbados, a steady stream of experienced scholarly economic researchers over the years, from trinidad, guyana, the oecs, jamaica, guadeloupe, martinique, the international monetary fund and other financial institutions. the annual review seminar has become, therefore, an important part of the bank ’ s ongoing training regimen designed to familiarise economists with best practice relating to statistical analysis, economic policy formulation, report writing, the design of an economic research project, and the application of econometric theory. and so this seminar has played an invaluable role in the nurturing of the