Building the future of UK payments: Five outcomes driving the UK’s National Payments Vision

The UK has a well-deserved reputation for global leadership in payments innovation — from the introduction of Faster Payments to the success of Open Banking. On 7 November 2025, the The Payments Vision Delivery Committee (PVDC) published the Strategy for Future Retail Payments Infrastructure that represents a unified vision and a coordinated blueprint for modernizing its retail payment systems.

The PVDC-led strategy is a collaboration between HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). It introduces a new governance and delivery model to drive sustained change. At its core, the strategy recognizes that payments infrastructure isn’t merely a technical utility, but a national capability: a foundation for innovation, trust and inclusion across the financial ecosystem.

The power of public–private collaboration 

The PVDC has been established to advance the UK’s ambition for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem: one powered by next-generation technology, where consumers and businesses have genuine choice in how they pay and get paid.

This model is built on public–private collaboration, combining the strategic direction of government and regulators with the industry expertise and delivery capacity of the UK’s payments sector. It ensures that the right skills and insights drive progress from design through to execution.

Meanwhile, the emergence of new digital forms of money — including stablecoins, tokenized deposits and programmable payments powered by distributed ledger technology (DLT) — is transforming the way value moves across the economy. These innovations promise faster and cheaper transactions, seamless reconciliation and greater control for consumers and businesses alike.

To capture these opportunities, the UK’s next-generation payments infrastructure must look beyond a like-for-like upgrade of legacy systems such as Faster Payments and Bacs. Instead, it must deliver a flexible, forward-looking architecture that preserves reliability while enabling innovation, interoperability and resilience for the future.

Three guiding principles

The Strategy rests on three guiding pillars that together define how the UK’s new payments infrastructure will evolve:

• Innovation. Adopting emerging technologies to reduce the cost of developing new payment products and promote financial inclusion.

• Competition. Opening infrastructure to a broader range of providers through fair, transparent access that drives choice and innovation.

• Security. Embedding resilience, consumer protection, fraud prevention and operational stability by design.

These principles set the direction for a payments ecosystem that is open, intelligent and supports the growing digital economy.

Five strategic outcomes for the future of retail payments

The PVDC has articulated five strategic outcomes that will shape the design of next-generation retail payments infrastructure. Together, these outcomes translate the Vision’s three pillars — innovation, competition and security — into tangible goals that will deliver greater choice, resilience and trust across the financial system.

For financial institutions, these outcomes provide a roadmap for aligning investment and transformation priorities. Assessing how existing capabilities — from data infrastructure and interoperability frameworks to fraud analytics — support these outcomes will be critical to maintaining competitiveness and readiness for the next wave of payments modernisation.

Outcome 1: Consumers and businesses have a greater choice of innovative and cost-effective payment options that meet their needs.

The first outcome focuses on creating a more dynamic and innovative payments ecosystem, offering consumers and businesses a wider range of cost-effective, data-rich payment options. Future infrastructure will need to support account-to-account payments at the point of sale, building on Open Banking, and enable emerging technologies such as programmable payments and tokenized deposits. These capabilities will give users greater control, transparency and speed in how money moves — and strengthen competition across the market.

The PVDC emphasises inclusion by design: new platforms must cater to diverse user needs, including individuals and small businesses who continue to rely on cash and checks. Through modular, API-driven design, providers will be able to innovate faster and offer differentiated products that extend choice and value to end users.

Outcome 2: Payments operate seamlessly as part of a diverse multi-money ecosystem, with interoperability between new and existing forms of digital money.

The second outcome envisions a payments landscape in which different forms of money — from commercial bank money and e-money to tokenized deposits, stablecoins and future central bank digital currencies — can coexist and interoperate seamlessly. Achieving this will require new “core interoperability” frameworks capable of connecting traditional and digital systems securely and efficiently.

This multi-money approach represents a fundamental shift. It not only enables frictionless transfers between new and existing forms of value but also lays the groundwork for a more inclusive and competitive digital economy. The ability for consumers and merchants to choose how they transact — without being constrained by the underlying form of money — will redefine the flexibility and resilience of UK payments.

Outcome 3: Consumers and businesses can trust that their payments are protected from fraud and wider financial crime.

Trust remains the bedrock of the payments ecosystem. The PVDC’s third outcome underscores the need for robust fraud prevention and financial-crime controls built directly into the design of future infrastructure. This means harnessing high-quality data, AI-driven analytics and programmable features — such as conditional settlement or pre-approved payment flows — to “design out” fraud before it occurs.

Complementing these measures will be strong authentication frameworks and transparent consumer protections. Together, they will help rebuild confidence in digital payments, reduce economic harm, and create a safer environment for innovation.

Outcome 4: Participant firms have fair, transparent and non-discriminatory access to the infrastructure –maximizing competition and scope for innovation across the payments ecosystem.

The fourth outcome calls for transparent, non-discriminatory access to payment infrastructure. To sustain a competitive market, participation must be open to a diverse range of providers — from established financial institutions to fintechs and emerging payment service providers — operating under clear governance and proportional regulatory standards.

By leveling the playing field, the next generation of infrastructure can encourage new entrants, stimulate innovation, and unlock new business models. Fair access ensures that progress in the UK payments landscape benefits the entire ecosystem, not just a select few.

Outcome 5: The payments ecosystem is operationally and financially resilient.

Finally, the PVDC highlights the importance of operational and financial resilience as a cornerstone of trust. Future systems must deliver reliability, scalability and 24/7 availability, protected by advanced cyber-security measures and assured by national technical authorities.

Sustainable governance and funding models will be vital to support long-term investment and innovation, while settlement in central bank money will continue to underpin financial stability. The goal is to build an infrastructure that not only performs at scale but endures across market cycles and technological shifts.

Collective impact

Together, these outcomes set a bold direction for the UK’s payments future — one that is secure, interoperable and innovation-ready. They mark a decisive step toward an ecosystem where public and private sectors collaborate to deliver world-class infrastructure that fosters growth, inclusion and resilience.

For banks, fintechs and payment service providers, the message is clear: aligning with the National Payments Vision is not simply a matter of compliance, but a strategic opportunity to help shape the next generation of payments in the UK and beyond.

The PVDC makes clear that incremental upgrades to legacy systems such as Bacs or Faster Payments will not be enough. Instead, the UK needs a future-focused, flexible architecture capable of supporting innovation, interoperability and resilience across the value chain.

Among the priority areas identified:

• Account-to-Account (A2A) payments at point of sale, powered by Open Banking and next-generation payment rails.
  
  

• Interoperability across forms of digital money, enabling frictionless transfers between bank deposits, e-money, stablecoins and digital wallets.
  
  

• Built-in fraud and financial-crime prevention, leveraging high-quality data and AI analytics at the infrastructure level.
  
  

• Inclusive design principles that preserve access for vulnerable users while advancing financial inclusion through digital channels.
  
  

Collectively, these priorities underscore a decisive shift from system maintenance to ecosystem transformation — one that will demand new thinking, new partnerships and sustained investment from both public and private sectors.

Governance and delivery

To ensure accountability and momentum, a new Retail Payments Infrastructure Board (RPiB) and industry-owned Delivery Company will lead implementation under PVDC oversight. This structure represents a transition from policy to execution — uniting government, regulators and industry in coordinated delivery.

The programme will balance short-term improvements to Bacs and Faster Payments with the longer-term build of a new national infrastructure. Private-sector innovation will continue to be encouraged, provided it aligns with the vision and strengthens, rather than fragments, the UK’s payments ecosystem.

A sea change for the UK payments industry

The publication of the strategy signals a turning point — where the UK moves from discussion to action in re-architecting its payments future. This is not simply about upgrading systems; it is about creating a connected, intelligent and inclusive payments ecosystem that supports innovation, financial stability and growth for decades to come.

The UK’s payments vision is no longer theoretical. The real challenge now lies in execution — building systems that meet the Strategy’s high standards while differentiating through customer experience, agility and innovatio