The UK payments industry broadly supports the government’s National Payments Vision, but new research shows limited confidence that the programme will be delivered smoothly.
A survey of 350 payments leaders by CI&T IT service firm found that 82% support the Vision. Despite the positive attitude to the concept itself, only 29% are very confident in how it will work.
Today, the Bank of England’s Retail Payments Infrastructure Board (RPIB) closes its consultation on the design of the UK’s next-generation retail payments infrastructure. The consultation is intended to shape the core clearing and messaging infrastructure that will sit underneath future payment services.
What is the National Payments Vision?
HM Treasury published the National Payments Vision in November 2024 following the independent Future of Payments Review led by Joe Garner. The review found that the UK remained strong in banking, cards and digital payments. However, it was still at risk of falling behind international peers, lacking overall strategic direction. It also identified another issue. A congested regulatory landscape has hindered progress, with multiple initiatives progressing across government, regulators and industry.
The Vision aims to create “a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem” in the UK. It should be based on next-generation technology to begin with. Another objective is giving consumers and businesses greater choice. The program’s three main pillars are innovation, competition and security.
Infrastructure is a critical aspect of that ambition. The government says the UK must maintain the resilience of existing systems, but also start investing in technology that can support new payment services. The programme also seeks better regulatory coordination and more room for account-to-account payments, Open Banking and other emerging forms of digital money.
Why is confidence limited?
CI&T’s research suggests that industry support does not translate into confidence about implementation. Almost every respondent, 349 of 350, expects communication problems around the programme. The biggest concerns are the delivery roadmap and milestones. Those were cited by 33%. Next part that causes doubt is how the programme will interact with other regulations and what testing, migration and readiness will require. Both factors sit at 30%.
Those concerns mentioned above are consistent with some of the issues acknowledged by policymakers themselves. The government has described the upgrade of the UK’s eight retail payment infrastructures as slow and challenging. The Bank of England said stakeholders need greater clarity about what “next generation” infrastructure means in practice, including transition, migration, data standards and commercial viability.
The difficulty is that the new system cannot simply replace everything at once. Existing Faster Payments and Bacs infrastructure must continue operating safely while the new architecture is designed and built. The current model requires a phased transformation process involving RPIB, an industry-led Delivery Company and continued operation of existing systems during the transition.
Governance and migration on top of the agenda
The research also highlights a difference between industry groups. All executive and strategic leaders surveyed rated clear governance as important. Among product and innovation leaders, this share was only 59%.
That is a good illustration of some obstacles the Vision might stumble upon. The programme involves government, the Bank of England, the FCA, the PSR, banks, fintechs, merchants and other participants. And each of them has different responsibilities and commercial interests. The government established the Payments Vision Delivery Committee partly to improve coordination and sequencing across this landscape.
CI&T also found that 85% of respondents want modernisation to work with existing infrastructure, rising to 98% among executive and strategic leaders. Robust testing before changes go live was the most supported continuity measure, at 82%.
Brazil’s Pix provides a notable reference point for the Vision. Some 97% of respondents said the UK could learn from the Brazilian payment system. In particular, from its implementation and participant coordination. The UK government itself has cited Pix as an example of how new interbank payment infrastructure can increase choice and competition.
The immediate test for the UK, however, is practical. The RPIB is still developing the high-level design, and the current consultation is asking industry to weigh payment journeys, design principles, priorities and trade-offs. The next stage will need to turn that broad and vague agreement into something tangible: clear responsibilities, migration plans, testing requirements and milestones that firms can act on.
