Why standards matter more than ever in the National Payments Vision

In the race to modernise the UK’s payments infrastructure, standards may not be the most glamorous part of the conversation — but they’re absolutely essential.

The National Payments Vision (NPV) is ambitious, aiming to deliver smarter, safer, and more innovative payments across the UK. Yet behind nearly every one of these ambitions sits a simple but powerful enabler: standards.

From enabling account-to-account (A2A) payments at the point of sale, to scaling Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs), building effective fraud prevention tools, and aligning with global initiatives like ISO 20022, standards are the hidden wiring that makes modern payments work. Without them, the ecosystem becomes fragmented, less resilient, and harder to innovate within. And yet — we risk leaving them as an afterthought.

Standards: the enablers behind the vision

Standards are what allow different players in a complex ecosystem to talk to each other — clearly, securely, and at scale. They underpin interoperability across systems, schemes, and borders. They create the conditions for competition and innovation. And crucially, they build in resilience by enabling consistency and predictability.

Many in the industry already know this. We’ve seen ISO 20022 being adopted within firms to support better data usage and fraud prevention. We’ve seen Open Banking use standards to drive a new wave of consumer-facing innovation. But that success was built on clear regulatory mandates and strong central coordination — something we’re currently lacking when it comes to delivering on the broader NPV.

Where progress is stalling

Right now, uncertainty around the governance of NPV delivery — and the ongoing transition between the PSR and FCA — is slowing down momentum on key standardisation efforts.

Take fraud data standards. Despite strong industry consensus that better data sharing could meaningfully reduce fraud, efforts have “run into the sand.” It’s unclear where responsibility sits — is it a lack of coordination? Lack of incentive from individual firms? Or simply other priorities taking precedence? There’s broad agreement that the blockers aren’t insurmountable — in fact, many agree “it can’t be that hard” — but without a clear owner and strategic steer, progress is sluggish.

Or consider digital identity. It’s not yet consumer-facing, but has the potential to unlock safer, more seamless experiences across the ecosystem but without clear alignment on standards, solutions risk fragmentation before they ever reach scale.

The strategic gaps

So, what’s missing?

Clear ownership: As we await decisions on who will deliver future infrastructure, it’s not clear who should own standards development — and whether they will act strategically.
Coordination and governance: Multiple standards setters could emerge, but without central alignment, that risks duplication or divergence.
Early integration: Too often, standards are bolted on at the end rather than built in from the start. That approach won’t deliver the ambition of the NPV.

Where standards could be game-changing

Looking ahead, standards will be pivotal in several areas:

Digital identity and verification frameworks
Cross-border payments and ISO 20022 alignment
Enhanced fraud data and Confirmation of Payee (CoP) upgrades
Interoperability for new forms of money
A2A payments at point-of-sale
Migration between legacy and future schemes

Each of these requires strategic thinking, shared direction — and most importantly — action.

A call to action

So here’s the challenge for industry and regulators alike:

Who will own and champion standards in the next phase of payments delivery?
How do we ensure they’re developed in alignment with NPV goals?
What authority do standards-setters need to act boldly and at pace?
And how do we make standards a central part of design conversations, not just a compliance tick-box?

If we want to realise the full potential of the National Payments Vision, we need to treat standards not as an afterthought — but as a foundation. It’s time to stop talking and start building.

Area of expertise:

Payments, innovation & resilience