UK payments regulation, open banking, FCA, PSR, scheme governance
In short: an unauthorised payment refund cannot be withheld because the bank thinks the customer was grossly negligent. The Court of Justice of the European Union held on 15 October 2026 that the payer’s provider must refund by the end of the next business day, and may recover the loss later only if it proves…
In short: Where an app provider is an e-money agent or distributor of an e-money institution, the institution must handle the users’ complaints, and an eligible user can take them to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Where the app provider is a separate regulated firm, the app provider must handle them, and the Ombudsman can hear…
In short: payment firms bear the cost of scam reimbursement in the UK, and the platforms and networks where scams begin do not contribute. Since 7 October 2024 the sending and receiving payment service providers split each authorised push payment (APP) scam refund 50:50, up to £85,000. Under the EU’s agreed Payment Services Regulation an…
In short: HM Treasury asked 42 questions on reforming the Payment Services Regulations 2017, the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and Open Banking in its Modernising Payment Services Regulation consultation, which closed on 6 October 2026. The Retail Payments Infrastructure Board, chaired by the Bank of England, asked 18 questions on the design of the next-generation…
In short: FCA crypto authorisation applications open at 9am on 30 September 2026 and the application window closes at 11.59pm on 28 February 2027. Handbook Notice 144 fixes the price of applying: one fee where a firm also seeks MLR registration, £11,260 to issue a qualifying stablecoin, and 2028/29 fees and Ombudsman levy set from…
In short: Consumer Duty vulnerable customers obligations apply to a payment service provider or an e-money institution carrying on retail market business under PRIN 3.2.6R, and they apply whether or not the customer is that firm’s own client. The Financial Conduct Authority published good and poor practice findings for payments firms on 17 September 2026….
In short: section 60A Competition Act 1998 obliges a UK court, the CMA and the concurrent regulators to have regard to European Commission statements made before Brexit implementation period (IP) completion day (31 December 2020) and not subsequently withdrawn. At paragraph 246 of its Guidelines of 3 September 2026 the Commission withdrew its prior 2009…
In short: the Bailey Mansion House speech of 14 July 2026 links growth to regulatory design. Andrew Bailey applies that test to bank capital, tokenised money and AI. The Bank’s test for new forms of sterling is whether they preserve nominal value and settlement finality. Two deadlines are now close: the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board…
In short: the FCA high-growth firms review, published on 10 August 2026, covers a pilot with 15 asset management, wealth management and payments firms. Four of its findings repeat the FCA’s 2023 fast-growing firms review. A payment institution’s obligations are unchanged: regulation 6(6) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017 still requires governance proportionate to its…
In short: the Bank of England AI Consortium published minutes of its fourth quarterly meeting on 5 August 2026, covering the meeting held on 3 June 2026. Four workshops reported on explainability, AI-accelerated contagion, concentration risk and AI edge cases. Under its terms of reference the Consortium has no decision-making capacity, so nothing in the…
Specific Direction 17 expires on 1 November 2026. The PSR’s CP26/2 consultation proposes to remove the expiry date and seeks views on directing voluntary CoP providers as a new Group 3.
The PSR gave Specific Directions 22 and 23 to Mastercard and Visa on 30 July 2026. Pricing governance obligations start on 30 November 2026 and the information requirements on 30 July 2027.