United Kingdom (and EU regulation)

PSR publish an access and governance report on interbank payment systems

By Albert Weatherill (UK) on January 13, 2022 Posted in Payment Services, United Kingdom

On 11 January 2022, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published their latest access and governance report on interbank payment systems, showing trends and developments in payment systems over 2019 and 2020. The report focuses on the operators of, and access to, the interbank (or ‘account-to account’) payment systems. It does not cover the card payment systems, or the LINK system.

Some of the headlines from the report include:

There was growth in the total number of direct participants from 2019 to 2021.
There was a decrease in the rate of new payment service providers (PSPs) directly joining CHAPS, Bacs and Faster Payments in 2020. 2020 had the lowest level of new direct access joiners since 2016.
Five new participants directly joined Faster Payments, one Bacs and one CHAPS in 2021.
The number of indirect access providers (IAPs) doubled from four to eight since the PSR was created in 2015.
Established IAPs still supply around 90% of indirect PSPs, but newer players have continued to gain share since they started providing indirect access services in 2017.