London, United Kingdom — The UK’s proposed retail payments overhaul aims to support stablecoins alongside instant bank transfers and give shoppers the option to pay directly from their bank accounts at checkout. Victoria Cleland, a senior adviser to the governors of the Bank of England, told the FTT Fintech Festival that consultation respondents broadly backed the plans, with key decisions still open on what the shared system should do, how payment services should connect and how providers should move to the new infrastructure.
Cleland chairs the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board (RPIB), which received 121 responses to its June consultation. She set out the next steps in a speech the Bank published on November 11, a week after the board issued its formal response. The board plans to hand its blueprint to an industry-led Delivery Company in spring 2027. The company will then take on detailed design, procurement, construction and implementation.
The board is turning priorities set by the Treasury-led Payments Vision Delivery Committee into a design for the infrastructure that clears payments and carries messages between providers. Those priorities include giving people more affordable ways to pay, connecting services that use different forms of money, improving fraud safeguards and making access fairer and more transparent. The committee also wants the system to withstand operational disruptions and financial pressures. The committee published those goals in November 2025 under the government’s National Payments Vision. The Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator attend the infrastructure board as observers.
At the launch of the consultation, the board identified direct account payments at checkout and better cross-border transfers as potential uses. Respondents also backed instant transfers using aliases, payments made by someone authorized to act on the payer’s behalf, and payments that can be scheduled or triggered when certain conditions are met. The idea is to build common infrastructure that providers can use to offer several kinds of payment. Cleland said technology is changing how people start and authorize payments, while customers increasingly expect services to be available around the clock.
Stablecoins are one example Cleland gave of what could run alongside faster bank payments. She said the system should let someone send a payment in one form of money while the recipient gets the same value in another. That could give customers more choice in how they pay and give banks and fintechs scope to build services that connect different forms of money for households and businesses.
The board received submissions from 110 organizations and 11 individuals, including financial institutions, technology companies, merchants and consumers. Technology, data, identity and solution providers accounted for 22% of responses, while payments firms, schemes and infrastructure providers accounted for 21%. The board also held roundtables and other discussions. Cleland said the feedback showed broad support for the direction of the project and for moving quickly into design.
One issue is how much the shared infrastructure should do itself. Respondents generally preferred a core that handles common tasks such as messaging, clearing and settlement coordination, with room for banks and other providers to develop their own products. They differed on which functions belonged in the core and which could sit with the services that use it. The board will need to settle those choices as it prepares the blueprint.
Respondents also backed a design that lets operators upgrade individual components and add new features over time. Cleland said the ability to expand matters as payment volumes grow and new ways to pay emerge. Common interfaces, consistent use of technical standards and ISO 20022 messaging would help providers exchange payment instructions across the system.
Fraud prevention and operational resilience were also priorities in the consultation. Cleland said safeguards should be built in from the outset, with some controls provided by services that run on top of the shared infrastructure. The core would connect to the Bank’s Real-Time Gross Settlement service, allowing final settlement in central bank money. Cleland said that connection would support confidence in the system and help protect financial stability.
The switch will require planning across the industry. Cleland said detailed migration plans depend on a clearer picture of what is being built. In the meantime, Pay.UK will continue operating existing systems, including Bacs, Faster Payments and the Image Clearing System. Providers will also need to consider how merchants accept new payment methods, who is liable when something goes wrong and how customers are protected. The Treasury-led committee set out the proposed division of responsibilities across the future retail payments system in July 2026.
The stablecoin plans sit alongside separate work on how the UK would regulate digital money. In November 2025, the Bank of England proposed temporary holding limits of £20,000 per coin for individuals and £10 million for businesses under its proposed regime for systemic sterling stablecoins. The design of the retail payments system could give such tokens a route into everyday transactions as the regulatory framework develops.
The Bank and HM Treasury are also considering a digital pound. In June, the Bank said the two institutions were in the final stages of designing it and that a decision on whether to proceed was still pending. The retail payments project, meanwhile, is moving ahead with a design intended to accommodate different forms of money and products as they develop.
Cleland said public authorities and industry will work together on the blueprint through spring 2027. The board, the Design Authority, representatives of the Delivery Company and industry experts will use the consultation feedback to develop requirements that reflect public policy goals and work for payment providers. Further engagement will inform those requirements as the design takes shape.
Cleland also urged payment firms to keep developing services during the design phase. Banks and fintechs can help widen access by building products that are easy to use, including for customers who may struggle with existing services. After the spring handover, the Delivery Company will turn the blueprint into a detailed design and oversee the work needed to build the system and bring it into operation.
