UK regulators respond to the Treasury Committee on payments regulation

The House of Commons Treasury Committee has published a letter (dated 27 February) from David Geale, the executive director for payments and digital finance at the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the managing director of the UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), following the recent PSR evidence session on 4 February. In the letter, Mr Geale responds to the Committee's questions and outlines some of the regulators' priorities as work progresses on the planned consolidation of the PSR into the FCA. For further background, you may like to read our blog post titled "UK Payment Systems Regulator to be abolished - what's next?" which explores key considerations and potential impacts of the transition.

• Mr Geale states that the FCA and PSR support retaining the full scope and substance of the PSR's core remit within the future integrated structure, while noting there is room for improvement, particularly in streamlining processes, clarifying responsibilities between regulators and ensuring investigative powers remain effective. He states that the FCA and PSR have been working with HM Treasury (HMT) to consider how a new legislative framework can support effective integration of the two regimes that avoids unnecessary duplication, complexity or uncertainty.
• Targeted changes potentially include simplifying access arrangements and enhancing appeals and enforcement mechanisms for information-gathering notices. The regulators will continue to engage with HMT on how these issues may be addressed through the ongoing legislative process.
• Mr Geale confirms that the PSR is currently reviewing how best to refine and communicate its supervisory approach, in light of the forthcoming consolidation, and considering whether further publications would be useful. The approach will be concluded once legislation is finalised.
• Mr Geale also clarifies that the FCA does not routinely track response times from technology firms when asked to remove scam content from social media. Monitoring such data would be resource intensive and the FCA considers technology firms better placed to track and report this information to regulators and Parliament.

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