UK Residents cards in issue Source: UK Finance Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas: There were 2 billion debit card transactions in January, 13.4 per cent more than in January 2022. The total spend of £64.7 billion was 12.1 per cent higher than January 2022. There were 321.3 million credit... Continue Reading →
NPA’s moment of decision Moment of decision: (Noun) A climactic, decisive or critical moment in an event or period. Issue 469 of Payments:Unpacked provided a summary of the PSR’s 2023/24 Annual Plan and Budget: The what, why and how of the PSR. A key element of the PSR’s latest work programme is the proposed New... Continue Reading →
The what, why and how of the PSR The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published their plan and budget for 2023/24 - at sixty pages the document provides a useful indication of the regulators intended focus for the coming 12 months. https://youtu.be/Msm0AuE_1EA There is, of course, no substitute to reading the full annual plan document so here’s... Continue Reading →
As technology evolves and is more present in our lives, consumers are beginning to ask why banking services cannot be as intuitive as managing their music playlists. Higher consumer expectations combined with the currently fast-changing environment brought by open banking make banks jump into new innovative waters. In the past, banks’ open banking strategies have... Continue Reading →
We live in a world where the financial industry is rapidly changing. A new generation of players is challenging traditional banks, the financial technology landscape is quickly evolving, and alternative payment methods are emerging. In many of these changes, open banking has played a key role. Since its advent five years ago, open banking –... Continue Reading →
SurePay, the leading provider of payment verification solutions, has announced the launch of an online portal that enables UK banks and payment service providers (PSPs) to perform Confirmation of Payee checks. This innovative solution can be offered alongside SurePay's existing Confirmation of Payee solution, which helps banks protect their customers against fraud, and ensures compliance... Continue Reading →
Nine million switches The UK’s Current Account Switch Service (CASS) will always be special to me, responsibility for the launch and guardian of the service for the first five years of its operation is an experience that I will always cherish. After almost 9 million switches since the service was launched in 2013 it is... Continue Reading →
ATM value and volume figures for March 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graphs depict the daily withdrawal value for March across the last four years and together show the pattern across the whole month. The impact of the first lockdown can be seen in the withdrawal values for 2020 falling from the... Continue Reading →
Consumer Duty: Are customers at the heart of your business? It’s your duty to prove it (and fast) https://open.spotify.com/episode/1prjgp7NQ3ijxP4cxu6hpf?si=xVnRU6AUQHeSpsQ4ycGCKA Teresa Connors from Payment Matters shares her thoughts on Consumer Duty… We’re at an inflexion point, as firms are becoming aware / coming out of denial / realising it’s not just a compliance thing and tackling the enormity of... Continue Reading →
New research published today by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, shows nearly half (45%) of people have been somewhere that has not accepted, or has discouraged the use of cash over the past eight weeks and one in five (20%) said this was fairly or very inconvenient. As more retailers and councils... Continue Reading →
Open banking: A bespoke solution for responsible iGaming iGaming – a sector which covers any form of online wagering, despite being a relatively young industry, has snowballed over almost 20 years of existence. A study conducted by Statista reported that in 2021, the global online gambling and betting industry was valued at US$ 61.5 billion and is expected... Continue Reading →
In this third round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of February 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volume and value for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and... Continue Reading →
Doors wide open for Open Banking in the Middle East Over the past few years, Open Banking – a technology that gives consumers and businesses the legal right, for the first time, to access their payment accounts via third party providers (TPPs), has become a global phenomenon, with studies estimating that the Open Banking market... Continue Reading →
Since its launch over half a century ago, Bacs Direct Debit has certainly become an embedded, hassle free, frictionless and pre-eminent way of making recurring payments. However, the UK’s pre-eminent recurring payment solution is facing its greatest challenge. Will Direct Debits compete, coexist, complement or converge with Request to Pay and Variable Recurring Payments? As the new recurring payment kids on the block... Continue Reading →
Paym: I hardly knew you Paym is (and from tomorrow (7 March 2023) was) a mobile payment system operated by Pay.UK and offered by the majority of the UK’s banks and building societies. Recipients are identified by their mobile phone number rather than their bank sort code and account number. At the end of 2022 the service was... Continue Reading →
ATM value and volume figures for February 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value across the last four years showing the latter half of the month. The amount of cash taken from ATMs in recent weeks remains below the pre-pandemic 2020 levels and ahead of Lockdown impacted 2021... Continue Reading →
London/Utrecht 7 March 2023 - SurePay, the European leading Confirmation of Payee provider, has today announced that UK fintech Allica Bank has implemented its UK Confirmation of Payee solution to protect consumers against fraud and misdirected online payments. CoP is designed to help customers avoid sending payments to the wrong account through fraud or human error... Continue Reading →
Five things businesses need to know about the UK’s New Payments Architecture The Payments Podcast by Bottomline https://soundcloud.com/thepaymentspodcast/5-things-businesses-need-to-know-about-the-uks-new-payment-architecture-npa?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing In this podcast I joined Bottomline’s Richard Ransom to discuss what changes corporates can expect from the planned New Payments Archtecture (NPA) and consider how it might impact their business. We also explored what the NPA means for Bacs,... Continue Reading →
In this second round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of January 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volumes for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and the UK's... Continue Reading →
The day Britain went Decimal Prior to 1971, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. There were guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins. This old system of currency, known as pounds, shillings and pence or lsd, dated back to Roman times when a pound of silver was... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/c9k6NbL6xec Lee McNabb from NatWest joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. In this episode Lee unpacks: - The current state of play of A2A payments and explores what expectations we should place on the future expansion of this new payment mechanism. - Why the New Payments Architecture (NPA) is important to the future... Continue Reading →
Opinion: Mobile operators aren’t to blame for payment fraud In this option piece Peter Cornforth from Answer Pay offers a point of view that mobile operators aren’t to blame for payment fraud….. It’s all about trust Let me start by saying that I believe the answer to Authorised Push Payment Fraud is Request to Pay. Your most vital asset... Continue Reading →
This is Rowenna’s story about how she (nearly) got scammed Rowenna is sharing her story about how she (nearly) got scammed in the hope that it might help others and to assuage her “total embarrassment by doing something positive”. UK Finance report that in the first half of 2022, criminals stole a total of £609.8... Continue Reading →
ATM value and volume figures for January 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value across the last four years. The amount of cash taken from ATMs in recent weeks has been remarkably similar to the equivalent day in 2022. Source: LINK Daily withdrawal values had continued to be... Continue Reading →
In this first round up of retail payments in 2023, which covers the 12 months to December 2022, double digit growth in Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing continues with a steady state for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and growth in the volume and value of the UK's real time gross... Continue Reading →
Pay By Link In this short clip from a recent Payments:Unpacked podcast Nick Davey from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) offers his view on the use of "pay by link". https://youtu.be/Go7RDTPiJ24 Listen to all Nick had to say here: https://youtu.be/LS4VVwIzGeo
Source: UK Finance The UK Finance Update for October 2022 reports: Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas: There were 2.2 billion debit card transactions in October, 12.4 per cent more than in October 2021. The total spend of £66.6 billion was 9.1 per cent higher than October 2021. There were... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/33-0Pl_q-zQ Everyday banking BankingHUB Access to banking and cash can be a challenge in an increasingly digital world. BankingHUB has teamed up up with the UK's major banks to provide a place where individuals and businesses can do their everyday banking locally and speak with a representative from their bank face to face. Here's what... Continue Reading →
As the UK's financial climate continued to shift, the latest Current Account Switch Service Dashboard reveals that between October and December 2022 376,107 switches took place; the highest quarterly figure on record. In this latest dashboard, we find out how many of us transferred our bank account in Q4 2022 and who the switching winners... Continue Reading →
Ask the Payment Systems Regulator - a Q&A podcast with Nick Davey Nick Davey from the Payment Systems Regulator joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. In this podcast Nick answers questions that have been asked by readers of the Payments:Unpacked newsletter and Mike’s Linked In connections. https://youtu.be/LS4VVwIzGeo Hear Nick’s answers to: What are the biggest near-term challenges for... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 15 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 15 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 39% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 7% when compared to the previous week. The volume of ATM... Continue Reading →
Who are LINK? LINK is the UK's cash machine (ATM) network and the busiest ATM transaction switch in the world. Effectively every cash machine in the UK is connected to LINK, and LINK is the only way banks and building societies can offer their customers access to cash across the whole of the UK. All the... Continue Reading →
Payments made personal, easy and more secure SurePay's Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service is an innovative, real-time name checking solution that gives UK payers greater assurance that their payments are going to the intended recipient. By confirming the payee’s name matches with the name on the intended recipient’s bank account, CoP helps avoid mis-directed payments... Continue Reading →
What's more important in a payment system - volume or value? A central banker might argue value but as a former custodian of the UK's systemically important retail payment schemes I'd argue volume any day! In this video we explore the digital growth and analogue decline of the UK's Bacs, Faster Payments and cheque payment... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 08 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 08 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 43% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 14% when compared to the previous week. The volume of ATM... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 01 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 01 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 50% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 35% when compared to the previous week in December 2022. The... Continue Reading →
Will Payment Service Providers (PSP) prosper going forward? A guest blog by John Bertrand As domestic payment fees 'go towards zero', how will PSP make any monies from the payments business, especially if the PSP is a non-bank1 and is OpenBanking an opportunity or challenge to PSPs? Taking a look at the PSP market size in the... Continue Reading →
Payments:Unpacked reader Hamish Houston has launched a new contender in the African payments industry - here's an introduction to enza A team of highly-experienced payments industry professionals have today launched the enza group (enza), a payments company focused on servicing the growing needs of banks, fintechs, and MNOs across the African continent. The African consumer... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/ff-3qYQh9wQ Alex Preece from Tillo joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. Alex unpacks: - How rewards, incentives and gifts network for the digital age are transforming the gift card market. - How Tillo helps companies build loyalty, both attracts and retains customers and brings value to payments. - How the Tillo loyalty platform... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 25 December 2022. Key observations for the week ending 25 December 2022: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 23% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 10% when compared to the previous week in 2022. The volume... Continue Reading →
Having published over 400 editions of Payments:Unpacked I am astounded by the ever growing number of active subscribers (‘free’ and ‘paid for’), the lack of unsubscribes and for the numerous compliments and encouragements I receive from a wide range of people across the payments niche that we inhabit. Indeed what better accolade can there be... Continue Reading →
Teresa Connors from Payment Matters joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. If you have not met Teresa yet here is an endorsement from her Linked In profile: "“…simply superb, a wealth of experience in the financial services industry and with a huge network to call upon – a true payments professional with infectious... Continue Reading →
In this final round up of retail payments in 2022, we see how the UK's bulk clearing scheme is holding is own, compare double digit growth in instant payments with double dight decline in the last bastion of paper clearing and, we are grateful, that the UK's real time gross settlement system remains a mystery... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 18 December 2022. Key observations for the week ending 18 December 2022: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 30% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 2% when compared to the previous week in 2022. The volume... Continue Reading →
New research published today by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, shows nearly half (45%) of people have been somewhere where cash has not been accepted, or has been discouraged. In the past eight weeks, the locations where cash acceptance has been the most limited has been car parks, cafes and restaurants as... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 11 December 2022. Key observations for the week ending 11 December 2022: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 29% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 6% when compared to the previous week in 2022. The volume... Continue Reading →
As a reader of Payments:Unpacked you will know that payment systems are vital to a country’s economy and play a remarkable role in ensuring that payment for the goods and services consumed are efficient, safe, resilient and friction-free. Given the popularity of last week’s “Don’t worry about it, I’ll Tikkie you” briefing we will now take a... Continue Reading →
An Expert Panel Discussion Featuring Answer Pay As defined by Fair By Design, "poverty premiums" are the extra costs people on low incomes and in poverty, pay for essential products and services. In this webinar we discuss the current environment and how Request to Pay can help. Chaired by Philip King, former Small Business... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 04 December 2022. Key observations for the week ending 04 December 2022: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 25% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 6% when compared to the previous week in 2022. The volume... Continue Reading →
As a reader of Payments:Unpacked you will know that payment systems are vital to the UK economy and play a remarkable role in ensuring that payment for the goods and services we all consume are efficient, safe, resilient and friction-free. One remaining area of payment friction is actually asking someone for some money to settle up for... Continue Reading →
