Will you be ready for enhanced real-time payments in the UK?

Icon is ideally positioned to work with banks to ensure readiness for significant upgrades to the UK’s real-time payments systems over the next 1-3 years. Firstly, there is a programme of enhancements to the existing Faster Payments systems, following publication of HMT’s National Payments Vision. And beyond that, work led by Pay.uk will assess future requirements for the UK’s retail payments infrastructure, looking beyond these Faster Payments upgrades.

Faster Payments enhancements aligned to the National Payments Vision

As a result of the HMT’s National Payments Vision, together with 2023’s Future of Payments Review report, the UK’s NPA programme is no longer happening.

In its place, Pay.UK is leading a programme of significant enhancements to the existing Faster Payments System that will be developed and delivered through 2025-27. These will likely include handling ISO 20022 format messages, enhanced options for connecting to FPS (including APIs), and a guaranteed instant payment type; together with ongoing focus on improvements to resilience, scalability and security.

Following on from these upgrades to Faster Payments, the National Payments Vision recommends assessing future requirements for developing the UK’s retail payments infrastructure beyond Faster Payments. Pay.UK will proceed with planning these future requirements during 2025-26, with significant implications for banks and non-bank payment providers for future delivery projects.