U.K. Payments Council Maps Plan to Create 10-Year Industry ‘Roadmap’ (June 17, 2013)
June 17, 2013
The U.K. Payments Council hopes to map the future of its nation’s payment infrastructure by creating a roadmap for the next decade, drawing broad input from government, business, charity and consumer groups, the London-based organization announced today. In “Payments Roadmap—An Initial Report,” the council outlined an approach to nurturing development of the payments infrastructure by setting out milestones at three-, five-, and 10-year intervals, with the goal of maximizing benefits for all participants and encouraging competition and fairness. To drive industry debate and participation, the initial 37-page report sets out various initial options that range from “restructuring to revolutionizing” the U.K. payments infrastructure, the council says.
The roadmap will complement its existing National Payments Plan, building on the goals of improving payments services for businesses and consumers by collaborating with government, regulators, consumers, businesses, voluntary organizations and IT systems providers, Adrian Kamellard, the council’s CEO, said in the report. The first version of the roadmap will be delivered during the first quarter of 2014, and will include modeling an “optimum architecture” for U.K. payments systems, according to the report. In particular, the roadmap to be developed will address a governance model for shared payments systems, including how they will be operated and funded. “[The roadmap] will also seek to encourage competition by enabling all payment service providers to have open access to payment systems,” the council said.
The council drew criticism from a 2009 plan that called for the elimination of paper checks by 2018, which sparked an outcry among consumers. The decision was later reversed, and the debacle caused the government to step up its scrutiny of the organization.
