On 14 March 2024, HM Treasury (HMT) published a near final version of the Payment Services (Contract Terminations Amendment) Regulations 2024 together with a policy note. The draft statutory instrument and policy note follows HMT’s earlier policy statement published last November on payment service contract termination rule changes. The policy statement was published following a … Continue Reading
On 12 March 2024, HM Treasury published a draft statutory instrument (SI): The Payment Services (Amendment) Regulations 2024, along with an accompanying policy note. The draft SI amends the Payment Services Regulations (PSRs) 2017 to allow payment service providers (PSPs) to delay the execution of an outbound payment transaction by up to four business days, … Continue Reading
On 28 February 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR)’s Managing Director, Chris Hemsley, delivered a speech at the Fraud Leader’s Summit in which he discussed the new requirements the PSR is bringing in later this year to tackle authorised push payment (APP) scams. Mr Hemsley opened the speech by outlining how the ubiquity, speed and … Continue Reading
On 23 February 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a letter providing details of how it will assess Pay.UK’s proposals for monitoring compliance with the Faster Payment System (FPS) reimbursement rules to determine whether to approve them. Background In Policy Statement PS23/3, the PSR set out its view that Pay.UK is the appropriate body … Continue Reading
On 21 February 2024, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking published a report on de-banking. The report was commissioned to explore the extent of the problem of de-banking and then, if problems were identified, to suggest remedies. The work was prompted by a growing number of individuals, companies and trade organisations approaching … Continue Reading
On 8 February 2024, the Bank of England (BoE) published two discussion papers on its Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service operating hours and access policies. The discussion papers are part of the BoE’s work to renew its RTGS services, which will include the introduction of a new core ledger settlement engine this year. The … Continue Reading
On 6 February 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a document explaining its cost benefit analysis (CBA) framework. The framework is used to help the PSR develop policies that it can expect to have a positive impact. The PSR emphasises the importance of having policies that are based on appropriate and informed economic evidence, … Continue Reading
On 25 January 2024, the Bank of England (BoE) published a speech delivered by Victoria Cleland, Executive Director for Payments at the BoE, at the Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit. In her speech, Ms Cleland discusses how the BoE is enhancing its core payments infrastructure and policies in the light of the opportunities arising from … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a consultation paper, CP23/12, on expanding variable recurring payments (VRPs). In CP23/12, which has been published alongside a progress update from the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC), the PSR is consulting on changes to Faster Payments to enable a phased expansion of VRPs. In particular, … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2023, the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC), which is co-chaired by the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), published an update on the progress it has made since it outlined its open banking vision in April 2023 and set out its plans to deliver a new generation of payment products and … Continue Reading
On 13 December 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published an interim report (MR22/2.6) for its market review into UK-EEA consumer cross-border interchange fees. It is now seeking views on the provisional findings and proposed approach to remedies, which are set out in the report, to help inform its final report. In the interim report, … Continue Reading
On 7 December 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published Cycle 2 of authorised push payment (APP) fraud data reporting for payment services providers (PSPs). Specific Direction 18 was issued on 23 March 2023, to 14 directed participants. It sets out the legal requirements for reporting APP scams data to the PSR. The PSR … Continue Reading
On 7 December 2023, the European Payments Council (EPC) published its yearly update of ‘Payment Threats and Fraud Trends Report’. The report provides an overview of the most important threats and other ‘fraud enablers’ in the payments landscape including social engineering, malware, botnets, and distribution denial of service. For each threat, an analysis is made … Continue Reading
On 22 November 2023, HM Treasury (HMT) published a report on the Future of Payments Review. The report, published alongside the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, considers how payments are likely to be made in the future and makes recommendations on the steps needed to successfully deliver world leading retail payments, further boosting UK fintech competitiveness. The … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2023, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) Guideline (EU) 2023/2415 of the European Central Bank of 7 September 2023 amending Guideline (EU) 2022/912 on a new-generation Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer system. Guideline (EU) 2023/2415 amends Guideline (EU) 2022/912 (ECB/2022/8). The amendments: On 16 November … Continue Reading
On 16 November 2023, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs published a draft report (dated 13 November 2023) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market amending Directive 98/26/EC and repealing Directives 2015/2366/EU and 2009/110/EC. … Continue Reading
On 16 November 2023, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs published a draft report (dated 13 November 2023) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services in the internal market and amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010. The rapporteur is Marek Belka MEP.… Continue Reading
On 9 November 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a consultation paper on generally applicable requirements: draft review framework. The PSR has powers under Part 5 of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (FSBRA) to regulate payment systems designated by HM Treasury. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 added new sections to … Continue Reading
On 11 November 2023, the Council of the EU announced that it had reached a provisional political agreement with the European Parliament on the instant payments proposal, which will improve the availability of instant payment options in euro to consumers and businesses in the EU and EEA countries. The initiative comes in the context of … Continue Reading
On 7 November 2023, the FCA published the findings from its multi-firm review on anti-fraud controls and complaint handling in firms, with a focus on authorised push payment (APP) fraud. The multi-firm review highlighted the following key findings: The FCA is already working with firms in its review to strengthen their approach. The FCA expects … Continue Reading
On 31 October 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a report on authorised push payment (APP) fraud performance. The report provides a comprehensive set of data on APP scams and covers 95% of payments made via Faster Payments in the UK. It focuses on Faster Payments because it is the most frequently used way … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2023, the Bank of England (BoE) published a speech by Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, delivered at the Economic of Payments XII Conference at the Federal Reserve Board. The speech is entitled, ‘Money and Payment – a ‘black ships’ moment?’. In his speech, Mr Cunliffe makes the following remarks:… Continue Reading
On 24 October 2023, the Wolfsberg Group published updated Payment Transparency Standards, which replace the 2017 standards to reflect changes in payment methods, infrastructure and landscape. The updated standards are intended to:… Continue Reading