News

A new report released today is calling for the urgent need for a strategic policy framework to guide digital payments innovation in the UK.

Making UK Payments Work For Everyone argues that the UK is at a critical decision point in the evolution of its payments landscape, prompted by rapid technological change, growing consumer preference for digital, and the renewed policy focus of the government’s 2024 National Payments Vision.

However, it says that the progress to date has been uneven and that without a joined-up approach, the country risks falling further behind global leaders in digital finance.

The report is co-authored by Alistair Milne, Professor of Financial Economics at Loughborough and Markos Zachariadis, Professor of Information Systems at University of Manchester and builds on the findings of the 2023 Garner Future of Payments Review and the government’s 2024 National Payments Vision. The report is sponsored by LINK.

To do this it proposes three principles:

• Leadership: Clear roles and responsibilities across public and private sectors, drawing lessons from global success stories such as Sweden’s Swish and Brazil’s Pix.
• Architecture: A coherent design encompassing infrastructure, standards, data governance, and business models to support interoperability and scale.
• Inclusion: A commitment to designing digital payment systems that serve all citizens, including the unbanked and cash-reliant communities.

The report calls for a strategic roadmap that prioritises:

• Person-to-person bank payments built on open banking
• Merchant account-to-account payment alternatives to card schemes
• Dispute resolution mechanisms for consumer transactions
• Commercial models that incentivise infrastructure investment and consumer protection
• This roadmap requires collaboration across stakeholders including banks, payment service providers, businesses, consumer groups, and policymakers to ensure that innovation does not leave vulnerable users behind.

The report concludes by emphasising the importance of embedding this roadmap within forthcoming policy initiatives, including the UK Payments Strategy and the Payments Forward Plan, expected from the Payments Vision Delivery Committee later this year.

Read the report

Quotes:

“To secure the UK’s future as a global leader in payments, we must move beyond fragmented fixes and commit to a long-term, inclusive strategy—one that puts consumers first, embraces innovation, and ensures no one is left behind.” John Howells, CEO, LINK

“Without clear leadership and a coherent roadmap, UK payments risk falling further behind. We need bold, joined-up action to deliver innovation that works for everyone.” Professor Alistair Milne, Loughborough Business School

“Digital payments must be designed with inclusion and customer convenience at their core—only then can we build a system that truly serves the economy and respects the diversity of users across the UK.” Professor Markos Zachariadis, The University of Manchester

Notes:

About the LINK Scheme: The LINK Scheme is the UK’s Cash Access and ATM Network that connects virtually all the UK’s ATMs and provides communities with access to cash through services such as cashback at retailers’ tills and Banking Hubs. LINK’s role is to provide UK consumers with universal access to cash in a safe, convenient and rapid manner. A free LINK Cash Access App showing consumers their nearest free cash access location can be found here. LINK has 29 Members that issue cards and deploy ATMs in the UK. LINK is a not-for-profit organisation and governed by an independent Board, which has a clearly defined public interest remit.

Alistair Milne is Professor of Financial Economics at Loughborough Business School. His career has spanned academia and public policy, with positions at London Business School, the University of Surrey, and Bayes Business School of City University London, together with a range of public policy appointments and consultancy in the UK and in Africa.

Markos Zachariadis holds the Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech) and is Full Professor of Information Systems at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Financial & Monetary Systems; Chief Fintech Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Competition Commission, Greece’s competition and markets authority; and a FinTech Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI), University of Cambridge.