Cleland targets spring 2027 blueprint for UK retail payments
Victoria Cleland of the Bank of England (BoE) said a UK retail payments blueprint will pass to an industry-led Delivery Company in spring 2027. Feedback supports infrastructure spanning different forms of money, with design choices still unresolved.
Many monies, one core
Cleland told London's FTT Fintech Festival that 121 responses to the June 2026 consultation broadly supported the proposed payment journeys and architecture.
Journeys include account-to-account payments at point of sale, transfers across money types, instant payments using aliases, advanced delegated payments and programmable or deferred payments.
Interoperability would let payers and recipients use different forms of money frictionlessly and at par.
Respondents backed layered, modular and extensible infrastructure, generally preferring a thin core; its boundaries remain unresolved.
Fraud controls, cyber security and resilience must inform design.
The core will connect to the BoE's real-time gross settlement service for final settlement in central bank money.
Public design, industry delivery
Cleland chairs the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board, which will co-create the blueprint with its Design Authority, Delivery Company representatives and industry experts.
The Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator participate as an observer.
The blueprint will guide detailed design, procurement, build and implementation.
Pay.UK continues operating current systems.
Common interfaces, ISO 20022 messaging and governance will support interoperability; safe migration planning requires a clearer design.
The core cannot deliver alone
Cleland stressed that infrastructure alone cannot deliver successful payment journeys.
Consumer protection, liability, merchant acceptance, commercial incentives, inclusion and access must develop alongside it.
She urged continued innovation while the core's scope and migration approach remain unresolved.