On 28 January 2020, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) issued a call for input on competition issues that could arise in the UK’s New Payments Architecture (NPA).
The NPA is the UK payments industry’s proposed new way of organising the clearing and settlement of payments between banks, known as interbank payments, including payments that currently use BACs and Faster Payments systems.
The ambition underpinning the NPA is to:
- enable competition between existing and new payment services;
- facilitate innovation in the interests of users; and
- enhance resilience and security in payments.
The overall aim of the call for input is to provide greater clarity and more detail on the PSR’s expectations, concerns and regulatory approach. The PSR intends to publish a policy statement to explain what market participants can expect from the regulator once the NPA becomes a reality.
The deadline for comments to the call for input is 24 March 2020.
