On 25 June 2026, the Bank of England (BoE) published a consultation setting out its proposals for the design of the future retail payments infrastructure.

Background

The Future of Payments Review published in November 2023 by HM Treasury (HMT), identified increasing complexity in the payments landscape, with multiple in‑flight initiatives and a lack of a clearly articulated long‑term goal for the infrastructure. As a result, this review recommended that the Government set a clearer strategic direction for retail payments.

The National Payments Vision (NPV) published by HMT in 2024 set out the Government’s ambition for a trusted, world‑leading payments ecosystem, delivered on next generation technology, in which consumers and businesses have a credible choice of payment methods to meet their needs. Following publication of the NPV, HMT established the Payments Vision Delivery Committee (PVDC) comprising HMT, the BoE, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). 

In November 2025, the PVDC published its Strategy for Future Retail Payments Infrastructure, which outlines a set of strategic outcomes to guide the renewal of the UK’s retail payments infrastructure to be supported by a new governance model intended to ensure that direction is set by the UK authorities. The Retail Payments Infrastructure Board (RPIB) has been established as an integral part of this new governance model.

This latest BoE consultation is a key component in the RPIB’s design work, which will inform the RPIB’s work on the development of a high‑level design for the core infrastructure to be taken forward by an industry owned and led delivery company.

Summary

The consultation asks for feedback in relation to three substantive questions, each of which will be considered alongside each other, in particular:

  1. Future payment journeys: What payment journeys should the core infrastructure support, i.e. what will ‘next generation’ payment journeys deliver for end-users? The BoE considers that this high-level design must be grounded in the concrete outcomes for UK households and businesses. More specifically, the consultation paper seeks respondents’ views on the expected challenges and considerations that should be taken into account when planning the transition from existing payment systems to next-generation infrastructure.
  1. Design principles: What are the principles and characteristics that should guide the design of core infrastructure? The BoE sets out that it considers that a set of key principles should guide infrastructure design, including the ability to achieve the payment journeys that cannot be foreseen today. In particular, the principles should support navigating trade‑offs and decision-making and should act as a guide rather than prescribing specific technical solutions. The principles set out in the consultation paper are a platform for innovation and competition, open access, common utilities and common standards, security and resilience, performance and scalability and protection from fraud and wider financial crime. Respondents are asked whether they agree with this list or would add or prioritise any principles.
  1. The wider payments ecosystem: What role should the core infrastructure play within the wider UK payments ecosystem? The BoE considers that there should be a technology‑agnostic conceptual architecture for the overall future retail payments ecosystem and that this architecture would provide a shared reference point for understanding the main layers of the ecosystem and the role of the core infrastructure within it. The BoE sets out that the conceptual architecture would be intended to reflect the distinct but interdependent roles played by a number of different layers, namely the end-user layer, access layer, product layer, messaging and clearing (core) infrastructure layer, settlement infrastructure layer, services layer, and the scheme and standards layer. Respondents are asked whether they agree with the proposed conceptual architecture and whether it draws boundaries between the proposed layers appropriately.

Next steps

The BoE sets out that it welcomes responses to the consultation and that the deadline for comments is 11 September 2026. Following the close of the consultation, the RPIB will publish a summary of responses and outline next steps in the high-level design phase.