The report, from UK Finance, The Payments Association, and Latham & Watkins, urges fresh thinking about regulating payments in the growing digital economy.

By Stuart Davis and Brett Carr

UK Finance, The Payments Association, and Latham & Watkins have published UK Payments Regulation Review: Making sense of where to go now, a new report examining regulation of the UK’s payments industry and its impact on the financial sector, consumers, and businesses.

Amidst the rapid digitalisation of the UK economy, the report explores how existing payments regulation has shaped the ability of sector participants to invest, grow, and deliver good outcomes for UK consumers and businesses, and how it may need to adapt to changing structures and demands of the market. In light of ongoing work reviewing how the UK’s financial services regulatory framework should adapt, the publication also examines the need for a coherent and consistent regulatory framework across banking and finance, to provide clarity where regulation overlaps; to ensure that proportionality, appropriate cost-benefit analysis, and responsiveness are embedded at the heart of regulation; and to empower regulators to adapt to the fast-moving payments sector whilst enabling and supporting innovation and investment.