Enhancing electronic payments in the UK

The processing of electronic payments in the UK is set to change significantly. 

A new payment system is being developed by the UK banking industry. The Faster Payments Service will enable electronic payments, typically made via the internet or phone, to be processed in hours rather than days.

To date 13 banks and building societies are committed to the new service. In the future, other financial institutions will be able to join, either as members, or to access the system through agency arrangements with a member - just as they do with other payment systems.

The new Faster Payments infrastructure will be launched on 27th May 2008. From this date, the founding member banks will be gradually implementing their own plans to deliver the new service to their customers. Thus a phased approach to rollout is being adopted to help ensure that the service is launched smoothly, securely and with total reliability for customers. The new service will run alongside existing payment schemes in the UK such as Bacs and CHAPS.

The development of this new service is a massive and complex project involving significant investment. It will revolutionise the UK’s automated payments infrastructure and will be comparable to the best in the world.