BoE final policy on sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins and consultation on issuer code of practice

The Bank of England (BoE) has published a final policy statement setting out its regulatory framework for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins, alongside a consultation on the draft code of practice for issuers. This follows the November 2025 consultation.

Under the regime, which will be established through amendments made by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to the Banking Act 2009, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will regulate the issuance, custody and admission to trading of UK-issued qualifying stablecoins and, in due course, their use in payments, while systemic stablecoins recognised by HM Treasury will be regulated jointly by the BoE and the FCA.

Following consultation feedback, the BoE has made several changes to the final policy. Key changes include:

• Revising the backing asset composition from a 60/40 to a 70/30 split between short‑term UK government debt and unremunerated central bank deposits (overnight repo and reverse repo transactions using eligible government securities with a residual maturity of six months will be permitted).
• Replacing proposed holding limits with a temporary GBP40 billion issuance "guardrail", which the BoE considers significantly less complex to implement.
• Refining capital and reserve requirements to align with international standards and provide additional guidance.
• Confirming a statutory trust structure, with two trusts—one to protect coinholders' holdings and the other to ensure an orderly wind down and return those holdings.
• Allowing limited excess (5%) in backing asset pools and clarifying third-party custody requirements for safeguarding.

The BoE is also developing a central bank liquidity facility to provide a backstop source of liquidity for eligible systemic stablecoin issuers, with further details of the design and operating parameters expected in 2027. It is also finalising its position on a disclosure framework, which will rely primarily on the FCA's proposed disclosure requirements for issuers recognised as systemic under the BoE's regime. However, where necessary, the BoE will apply its own supplementary disclosure requirements to systemic issuers, to address any gaps requiring additional disclosures.

The deadline for feedback on the draft code of practice is 22 September. The BoE intends to finalise the code by the end of the year, with further supporting materials expected in 2027. This will be alongside continued joint work with the FCA, including an "approach to joint regulation" document which the regulators intend to publish shortly.

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