On 14 November 2024, HM Treasury issued a policy paper, National Payments Vision.

The National Payments Vision (Vision) outlines the Government’s ambitions for bolstering the UK’s payments sector to deliver economic growth. It also addresses the findings from the independent Future of Payments Review 2023, led by Joe Garner, and extensive stakeholder feedback.

Structure of policy paper

In the first section of the policy paper the Government outlines its overarching Vision and the framework for delivering it. This applies to the entirety of the UK payments landscape – setting strategic expectations and priorities that the future landscape must deliver, regardless of which method of payment is being used and irrespective of whether the payment is domestic or cross-border, retail or wholesale. The second section sets out actions the Government is taking in the short term, in order to strengthen the foundations needed to deliver the Vision. The third section outlines early actions to deliver on the three pillars of the Vision: to drive innovation, facilitate competition and ensure security. Finally, section four outlines the next steps to deliver a Payments Forward Plan. This includes a mechanism to support close collaboration between the Government, regulators and broad stakeholder landscape, to ensure these ambitions for the future payments ecosystem can be delivered.

CBDC

The Vision sets out the Government’s commitment to explore a potential retail Central Bank Digital Currency, the digital pound. No decision has been taken on whether to launch a digital pound. The Government commits that any decision to proceed would be accompanied by the introduction of primary legislation, which would guarantee users’ privacy and control of their money. Regardless of the final decision, the work will support private innovation and deepen the expertise of UK public authorities.

Payments Vision Delivery Committee

The Government is establishing a Payments Vision Delivery Committee to drive the next steps.

The Committee will run for an initial period of 9-12 months, after which its future role will be assessed. Its key outputs will be to:

  • Outline proposals on the UK’s retail payments infrastructure needs and the governance and funding arrangements required to deliver this, led by the Bank of England and Payment Services Regulator.
  • Publish a sequenced plan of future initiatives (the Payments Forward Plan), outlining decisions to streamline activity and provide clarity on regulatory requirements in the future landscape.