Governance: the UK Payments Council Standardising the Future of Payments
- After several complaints on the quality of service in payments, the UK Payments Council is about to set up mandatory minimum standards.
- Faster Payments was launched in 2008 to allow for near real-time transfers and standing order instructions, either initiated online or through mobile devices. Since highly variable payment delays occur depending on the banks, the Council is going to set rules for single immediate and forward-dated payments. They will include mention of the minimum value and a firm timescale within which the payment will reach the destination account.
- Discussions between the Council and the Government are underway to create a bank-based authentication scheme for online public services access. The UK Government has cancelled its national ID card plans. The Council has also started the Government Authentication & Identity Assurance (Gaia) operation to assess the interest of using banking schemes to this end.
- It also announced an account-to-account mobile payment standard by end 2011 and a standard for online banking e commerce by mid-2012. Micropayments should be reviewed by 2013.
- Lastly, the national ATM network LINK is in charge of investigating new possible ATM features by March 2012: tax/welfare payments and prepaid vouchers, as well as shareholders’ submission of instructions to registrars.
- These projects are part of the Council’s second National Payments Plan, submitted up for a large-scale consultation. The Plan states clear end-dates for each evolution in payment. Banks are now trying to reach consensus before setting up schedules to avoid sensitive political debates like this summer’s one on the end of cheque. The first 2007 Plan edition had stated the decommission of cheques after 2018, among other issues. The controversies recently taken up in Parliament led the Council to drop this purely indicative decision.
- The Council is also standardising online and mobile payment (see July and August 2011 Insights on the UK interbank platform project). It is eventually assessing a possible diversification of ATMs towards multiservice, relying on the Portuguese example on this topic particularly promising in Europe.