The regulator said it would establish a central operator to coordinate Open Banking recurring payments, which would be “critical” to the development of the system.
The Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Services Regulator consider this a key initiative for open banking, which they call a “UK success story”, with the bank having more than 11.7 million active users making 22.1 million monthly payments.
They added that “the continued success of this area is vital to the UK” in line with the government’s growth agenda.
The regulator said standards body Open Banking Ltd will now “play a key role in establishing an independent central operator to coordinate the manner in which variable recurring payments are made”.
“We support it in doing so, working with industry and trade associations, and look forward to making significant progress in 2025.”
They said this would provide consumers with an instant service to make regular payments to utility companies, governments and financial services companies.
They added: “In addition, we are working with industry and trade associations to drive the development of commercial arrangements that support variable recurring payments and open banking for e-commerce.”
The city regulator added that the move was in line with a letter written by chief executive Nikhil Rathi to Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier this month to “support the government’s growth mission”.
Ratti added that the country “needs a UK financial services digital infrastructure plan to complement” the government’s “ambitious artificial intelligence plans”.
Launched in 2018, Open Banking allows consumers to share data with third parties to speed up payments and financial services applications.
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