the future. we are also seeking industry views on whether the renewed rtgs service could facilitate synchronised settlement and importantly what the demand might be. synchronisation, or atomic settlement, is the concept that two or more transactions ( payments or movements of assets ) are linked in such a way as to ensure that each transaction completes if, and only if, they complete together. this is an innovative proposition, and we are working in close collaboration with the payments industry and potential users on the policy, technical and operational design. later this year we will provide an update on our august 2018 call for interest on this topic. this is an exciting time for payments internationally as well as domestically. we therefore have a strong engagement programme with other central banks and overseas authorities. we work with our peers to set, and role model, global best practice and to find ways to drive harmonisation. and we can learn from their https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / payment - and - settlement https : / / www. wearepay. uk / new - payments - architecture - programme / https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / payments / rtgs - renewal - programme / iso - 20022 / iso - 20022 - consultation - paper. pdf https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / - / media / boe / files / payments / rtgs - renewal - programme / iso - 20022 / iso - 20022 - consultation - response. pdf all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches experiences. this collaboration will be all the more important as we seek to address issues around cross - border payments. to deliver the intended outcomes for the rtgs renewal programme we will continue with our extensive industry engagement and outreach. and as the transition approaches we also need the payments industry to act : to start preparing for the changes needed to their own organisations and to harness the benefits for their own firms and customers. listening, and responding, to a diverse range of views is important in enabling the bank to advance its objectives to benefit the public. but to be able to react effectively we also need diverse technology and diverse and talented staff. developments in technology, both to enhance resilience of existing payments and to innovate in new forms of payments, are important to support the bank in advancing its objectives.

gilt holdings in a timely but orderly way gave confidence that there would be no lasting impact on the bank ’ s stock of gilt holdings – the variable voted on by the mpc during qe. [ 16 ] unwind was completed using an innovative demand - sensitive approach over a period of four working weeks – broadly the same time it took to run up the holdings. the operation was targeted only at those assets involved in the ldi adjustment – long - dated conventional and ( in the latter phases of the operation ) index - linked gilts, whereas qe operations took place across the ( conventional ) curve ; and the operations were subject to a system of backstop reserve pricing, aimed at ensuring we purchased only as many assets as required to resolve the financial stability issue and recatalyse the market. this was a fundamentally different approach to that taken in qe, where the goal was to achieve the mpc ’ s stock targets. as a consequence, our eventual total purchases were far lower than some early estimates – and that, combined with the short holding period, very clearly differentiated the ldi operations from the much larger and more persistent path of qe holdings ( figure 4 ). judged against the criteria we set ourselves, these operations were highly successful, a view supported by most market participants and commentators. but there were many important learning points for us, and for anyone contemplating such operations in the future too. the first is simply to underscore the value of effective preparation across every element of design. as i mentioned at the start, we had benefited substantially from the thinking of the bis working group in the months ahead of the ldi crisis. establishing and communicating a rigorous approach to governance is critical. ensuring your operations genuinely are temporary is a vital but high stakes decision : make sure your deadlines are credible and clearly communicated. most importantly of all, invest heavily in how you want to price your facility. the standard mmlr theory of operating at a spread wider than in normal market conditions but narrower than in stressed conditions is nice in theory. but a spread is only defined around some mid - price, whether market or model - determined – and the former may simply not exist in dysfunctional markets, leaving it hard to avoid being a price setter, whether you like it or not. we found ourselves coming close to this in our index linked gilt purchases, where a near - complete lack of liquidity required us to set an additional level of reserve pricing in levels terms ( a ‘ reference