UK payments regulation, open banking, FCA, PSR, scheme governance
In short: UK wholesale market tokenisation is moving from pilots to production. On 18 May 2026 the FCA and the Bank of England published a joint Call for Input, building on the live Digital Securities Sandbox and the finalised fund tokenisation rules in PS26/7. Firms can already issue, trade and settle tokenised securities in a…
In short: The FCA areas of research interest, published on 17 June 2026, set out the priority questions the regulator wants researchers to help answer across growth, wholesale markets, consumers and regulation. They are not rules or a consultation. They show where the FCA’s evidence base is thin, and where its thinking may move next….
In short: The FCA penalty policy changes proposed in CP26/19 (published 15 June 2026, consultation closes 10 August 2026) would amend the Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (DEPP) for the first time on these thresholds since 2010. These are proposals, not yet in force. They would apply to payment and e-money firms and the individuals…
In short: the FCA AI approach pairs no new AI rules with supervised engagement. The Consumer Duty, the SM&CR and existing governance expectations govern AI in UK financial services, while the AI Lab offers five engagement routes. The AI Input Zone closes on 19 June 2026, feeding a good and poor practice publication later in…
In short: Consumer credit financial promotions are under FCA review. CP26/15, published on 29 April 2026, proposes removing prescriptive rules from CONC 3 and relying on the Consumer Duty consumer understanding outcome, and opens a discussion on representative APR disclosure, including the 51% threshold. Responses are due by 17 June 2026. By Rob Bratby, Managing…
In short: Financial market infrastructure supervision in the UK is split by statute. Section 285A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 makes the FCA the appropriate regulator for recognised investment exchanges and the Bank of England the appropriate regulator for central counterparties and central securities depositories. A Schedule 17A memorandum of understanding, reviewed…
In short: Concurrent competition powers let the FCA, PSR, Ofcom and five other sector regulators apply the Competition Act 1998, not just the CMA. The CMA’s annual concurrency report, published on 2 June 2026, shows that in 2025-26 only two sector regulators ran Competition Act cases, while reform and the PSR-into-FCA merger are about to…
In short: FCA sanctions systems and controls are now a standing supervisory expectation for payment and e-money firms. On 28 May 2026 the FCA published findings from assessing over 150 firms since February 2022, with UK assets reported frozen rising to £37bn in 2024-25. Screening calibration, alert management and asset freezing are the recurring weak…
In short: geographic market definition CMA practice asks where customers would switch if a hypothetical monopolist raised price by 5 to 10 per cent. The CMA’s 21 May 2026 Welltower decision found competition concerns in 30 local catchment areas. The CMA reaches the finding through postcode-level overlap mapping and drive-time isochrone analysis, a methodology that…
In short: Spring 2026 payments reforms are one month into live operation. SI 2025/688 came into force on 28 April 2026, substituting regulation 51 of the PSRs 2017 and inserting regulations 51A to 51D. The FCA’s PS25/12 Supplementary Safeguarding Regime came into force on 7 May 2026. By Rob Bratby, Managing Partner, Bratby Law. 30+…
In short: The Financial Services and Markets Bill 2026 provides for the abolition of the Payment Systems Regulator and the transfer of its functions to the FCA. The Bill is the legal mechanism; the substantive consolidation happens on commencement. For UK payment institutions and e-money institutions, the supervisor changes; the substance of payments regulation does…
In short: Framework contract termination by UK payment service providers operates under a new architecture from 28 April 2026. Closing a customer account opened on or after that date now requires 90 days’ written notice, sufficiently-detailed reasons and Financial Ombudsman Service signposting. Five carve-outs in regulation 51C and a fast-track regime in regulation 51D sit…