The ecosystem of payments within the UK has changed drastically over the past few years. Entire new regulated entities have come into existence due to the European Payment Services Directive (PSD2), and open banking moves in the UK have led the way for Europe unlocking completely new approaches to working. Domestically, HMRC has launched a tender for a payment initiation service provider of its own, while the FCA is starting a push for the insurance industry to move towards open finance.
The Covid-19 outbreak has also had an important impact on the payments industry worldwide with a focus on making sure hygiene-factor payments strike a balance point between a frictionless and safe, secure experience. In addition, the UK will be affected by the SWIFT decision to delay payment standards migration to ISO 20022; even though Pay.UK has decided to stick with its original timetable, a period of dual-standards between regions will come into play. What is exciting to see, however, is the fact that the UK CHAPS payment ecosystem will be moving to real-time, in addition to the expectation of the ability to build whole new added-value services on the back of ISO 20022 extended messaging capability. Financial institutions of all sizes need to make sure they stay strategically focused, and not merely slip down into tactical delivery mode.
During a recent webinar Transforming the UK’s Payment Infrastructure, I had an interesting discussion with the other panellists from NatWest, Barclays Corporate Banking, and Pay.UK about the rapidly evolving landscape of payments in the UK. Our discussion centred on the following topics:
- Request To Pay: the story so far and what’s in it for corporates and banks
- ISO 20022 for UK Payments: progress to date, and why now is the time to start migration planning
- Crossing the channel: instant payments in Europe, gpi, and other trends relevant for UK institutions
- How challengers and PSPs are changing the UK payments landscape
- Role of new technology in accelerating UK payments modernisation
- How to extract the most value out of the ISO migration
