The Bank of England has revealed disruption to some major financial transactions due to a “global payments issue”.

In a statement, the Bank said its high value CHAPS service – which handles payments worth hundreds of billions of pounds each day – was affected and that had resulted in delays.

They usually involve transactions between major commercial banks but the Bank confirmed that some house purchases were caught up in the glitch.

It is understood the incident is not being treated as a potential cyber crime and that it does not originate at the Bank.

It was, however, primarily affecting CHAPS – a sterling-based service that the Bank runs Monday to Friday from 6am to 6pm.

“We are mindful of the impact this is likely to have and are working closely with a third party supplier, industry and other authorities to resolve the issue as promptly as possible”, the Bank said.

The statement added that retail payment systems, such as ATMs and card payments, were unaffected.

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Bank transfers could also take place as normal.

“If you are concerned about a CHAPS payment you plan to make or receive today, please contact your bank, or other payment service provider”, the Bank said.

It was unclear how many transactions had been affected so far and when the issue would be resolved.

The Bank was understood to be working to mitigate the disruption.

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