Future Retail Payments Access Models

Design principles for access to the UK’s next-generation retail payments systems

Access to retail payment systems is a critical enabler of competition, innovation and resilience in the UK payments ecosystem – and considerations for access are a clear priority for the design and development of the next-generation retail payments architecture.

The National Payments Vision and the Strategy for Future Retail Payments Infrastructure set a clear direction of travel: payment systems should be accessible, reliable, secure and value for money, while promoting effective competition and innovation across the ecosystem.

Achieving these objectives requires access arrangements that are fair, transparent and non-discriminatory, while remaining firmly grounded in robust risk management and internationally agreed standards for systemically important payment systems.

To ensure that the ecosystem can face into the emerging opportunities, UK Finance and advisory firm Kearney have undertaken discussions with our members, representative of the payments ecosystem, to set out high-level design principles for access.

This report is intended as a starting point for ongoing engagement in shaping the design and delivery of access to the next generation of retail payments system.