A new white paper produced by Finextra and Raphaels Bank explores the changing landscape for access to UK payment systems, and the opportunities and challenges for fintechs seeking to drive innovation in payments.
Amidst all the hype about fintech growth and its significance for financial services and the economy as a whole, one fact is clear: new payment services providers (PSPs) need reliable, competitive access to the UK’s payments infrastructure in the short term to fulfil their potential.
This need to stimulate competition in the payments market is recognised. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) was created to serve exactly this purpose – and its stated vision is to ensure that “payment systems are accessible, reliable, secure and value for money”.
In addition, the UK banking industry does have a history of successful innovation in payments. The UK’s Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) – now considered a world-leading instant payments system, looked at with envy by many other countries, and currently processing 110m payments per month – was itself created in response to government and regulatory pressure to open up competition, improve efficiency and drive growth.
However, if you are a fintech currently trying to play your part in driving innovation in UK payments, you might observe that there are still some significant barriers to truly competitive access to payment systems. Since you need this to deliver the best possible service to your customers, these barriers could be impeding your business model.
This timely new white paper examines the changing landscape for market access, covering topics including:
- The barriers to competition today, and work under way to break them down
- The progress of the Faster Payments Scheme in the UK in opening up access
- The benefits of direct agency access to FPS; and
- Next steps for PSPs considering access
To find out more about the options for fintechs looking to access UK payment systems -
Download the document now 1.1 mb (PDF File)