The UK government has unveiled its Payments Forward Plan, mapping out regulatory reform, infrastructure redesign and digital asset frameworks through to 2028 in what it describes as a coordinated pipeline for the sector.
The UK government has published its Payments Forward Plan, setting out a consolidated three-year roadmap for the evolution of the country’s payments framework.
While the document does not introduce immediate rule changes, it provides something the sector has repeatedly called for: visibility.
By bringing together planned initiatives from HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator, the plan offers a structured view of how stablecoin regulation, open banking reform, retail infrastructure redesign and fraud policy will unfold through to 2028.
Framed as a delivery tool for the National Payments Vision, the plan also responds to concerns raised in the 2023 Future of Payments Review about regulatory congestion and overlapping supervisory mandates.
Consolidating supervision and rewriting payments law
At the heart of the roadmap sits the proposed consolidation of the PSR into the FCA. The Treasury is due to publish its consultation response in the first quarter of 2026, with implementation subject to primary legislation. If enacted, the change would mark the most significant structural shift in UK payments supervision since the PSR was created in 2015.
By integrating the competition-focused regulator into the conduct regulator, the government intends to reduce duplication and streamline engagement for firms operating across retail and wholesale systems.
Running alongside this institutional reform is a wholesale review of assimilated payments legislation, including the Payment Services Regulations and E-Money Regulations. A Treasury consultation is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026, followed by a response later that year and FCA rulemaking through 2027 and 2028.
This review will examine how the UK framework accommodates tokenised deposits and stablecoins, whether the Strong Customer Authentication regime requires updating, and whether regulatory adjustments are needed to support emerging forms of “agentic AI” payments. It will also incorporate the long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking, effectively redrawing the perimeter of payments law for the post-Brexit era.
In practical terms, 2026 becomes a foundational consultation year for the next generation of UK payments regulation.
Stablecoins and digital assets move toward full integration
The Payments Forward Plan confirms stablecoins are no longer being treated as an adjacent crypto issue but as part of mainstream payments infrastructure.
The Bank of England’s consultation on systemic stablecoins closes in February 2026, with final rules and a supervisory framework expected by the end of the year. In parallel, the FCA will finalise issuance rules for non-systemic and systemic stablecoins, ahead of the broader cryptoasset regime going live in October 2027.
The roadmap also confirms coordination between the Bank and the FCA on dual regulation for systemic issuers, reflecting the hybrid nature of stablecoins as both payment instruments and potential financial market infrastructure.
Notably, the Bank and FCA are exploring whether regulated stablecoins could provide the payment leg for on-chain transactions within the Digital Securities Sandbox.
Alongside stablecoins, the digital pound design phase continues through 2026, with the Bank and Treasury expected to publish a blueprint and a decision on the currency’s future. The CBDC project remains exploratory, but its inclusion within the same roadmap as stablecoins reinforces the UK’s attempt to maintain parallel optionality across public and private digital money.
Open Banking’s transition from mandate to market
Open Banking occupies a central position within the Payments Forward Plan, but its framing has shifted. Rather than focusing on compliance with the CMA Order, the roadmap sets out the pathway toward a commercially sustainable ecosystem.
The first live variable recurring payments (VRP) under an industry-led scheme are expected in early 2026. Over the course of the year, the industry will establish a standards-setting body capable of becoming the “Future Entity” for Open Banking, while the FCA consults on its long-term regulatory framework.
A Statutory Instrument under the Data (Use and Access) Act is due in late 2026, granting the FCA formal oversight powers and paving the way for eventual revocation of the CMA.
Infrastructure modernisation across retail and wholesale
Beyond regulatory reform, the Payments Forward Plan outlines parallel efforts to redesign the underlying infrastructure.
On the retail side, the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board will consult in spring 2026 on the next stage of its design and delivery programme. At the same time, operational enhancements to Faster Payments and Bacs are scheduled for completion by the end of 2026, aimed at strengthening resilience and supporting innovation in account-to-account flows.
On the wholesale side, the Bank of England is consulting on extended and potentially near 24×7 RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours, alongside experimentation through its Synchronisation Lab and wholesale experiments programme. The Digital Securities Sandbox remains open through 2027, with live issuance of tokenised securities expected during 2026–2028.
Fraud, safeguarding and financial resilience
The roadmap also formalises a review cycle for APP fraud reimbursement. An independent evaluation will examine the impact of reimbursement requirements and fraud performance reporting during 2026, with a 12-month review published in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the FCA’s supplementary safeguarding regime comes into force in May 2026, and the Treasury will respond to the independent review of the Payment and Electronic Money Insolvency Regulations in the middle of the year. T
Additional workstreams span AML reform, data sharing enhancements, and card scheme fee transparency reviews, reinforcing that innovation is being pursued alongside continued emphasis on system integrity.
