On 11 October 2021, the government published its response to the call for evidence to the 2020 Payments Landscape Review. The call for evidence was the first stage in the HM Treasury led review of the UK’s payments landscape which was announced in June 2019.

The response sets out the government’s aims for payments networks in the UK, makes a high level assessment of how well the present system is delivering against the government’s aims and asks questions about the opportunities, gaps and risks that need to be addressed in the future in order to ensure that the UK maintains its status as a country at the cutting edge of payments technology.

In the response the government makes a number of comments including:

• The government’s view is that changes are needed to ensure the right level of protection for consumers using Faster Payments to address what happens when a payment goes wrong and equip Faster Payments for the future.

• The government’s view is that the introduction of Faster Payments rules setting out reimbursement and liability requirements on all scheme participants, alongside preventative measures, is the best possible solution to the issue of APP scams. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) call for views has now closed, and the government is engaging with the PSR and industry on next steps, including considering what further actions may be necessary to make urgent progress on this issue.
• The government’s vision is for a payments sector at the forefront of technology and innovation in which the full potential of Open Banking enabled payments is unlocked safely and securely.
• The government’s ambition is for an open and global financial hub in which people and businesses can make and receive cross-border payments  seamlessly, quickly and cheaply, whether it is to or from family or friends, or when trading, buying or selling goods and services across borders.

• The government‘s Future Regulatory Framework Review proposes transferring responsibility for firm-facing requirements in areas of retained EU financial services law to the regulators; the government expects this will include retained EU payment services law.

• In addition, in response to the increasing use of digital payments and innovations in payments chains, the government will consult on bringing systemically important firms in payments chains into Bank of England regulation and supervision in the first half of 2022.