RPIB consultation on the design of the future retail payments infrastructure

The Bank of England (BoE) has published the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board (RPIB) consultation on the design of the UK's future "next‑generation" retail payments infrastructure, building on the government's National Payments Vision and the Payments Vision Delivery Committee (PVDC) strategy.

The consultation focuses on the core clearing and messaging infrastructure needed for the design's blueprint and does not intend to prescribe user-facing products or services. The consultation is structured around three areas, each of which will be considered alongside each other: (i) the future payment journeys the infrastructure should enable and support, including new payment methods such as account-to-account payments at the point of sale and enhanced cross-border payments; (ii) the design principles that should guide its development; and (iii) the role of the core infrastructure within the wider payments ecosystem. The BoE notes that success will also depend on progress in two related areas: (i) ecosystem roles and responsibilities for participants; and (ii) the development of successful products and services, including priority use cases identified in the PVDC strategy (such as account-to-account payments at the point of sale).

The design process is intended to be closely coordinated with wider reforms by HM Treasury and the UK Financial Conduct Authority, to modernise payments regulation. The consultation also includes an indicative roadmap, setting out how design and implementation could be sequenced.

The BoE further highlights that the new infrastructure should support interoperability across different forms of digital money (including the potential future of the digital pound). The deadline for comments is 11 September. Feedback will help the RPIB identify areas where further analysis, testing or industry engagement is needed, including through new engagement forums. Thereafter, the RPIB will publish a summary of responses and outline next steps in the high-level design phase, which will be taken forward by the new delivery company later this year.

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