UK Payments Board Opens Consultation on Next-Generation Retail Infrastructure

UK begins work on a new retail payments foundation

The UK’s Retail Payments Infrastructure Board, or RPIB, has launched a consultation to help shape the high-level design of the country’s next-generation retail payments infrastructure.

Published on June 25, 2026, the consultation seeks feedback from payment service providers, banks, fintech companies, merchants, businesses and members of the public. Responses are due by September 11, 2026.

The consultation is focused on the core clearing and messaging infrastructure that sits underneath retail payment products and services. The resulting design is expected to be taken forward by a new industry-owned and industry-led Delivery Company.

Account-to-account payments are part of the plan

The proposed infrastructure would continue to support existing payment journeys while creating a foundation for new services.

Among the use cases highlighted by the RPIB are account-to-account payments at the point of sale, which could provide consumers and merchants with an additional option alongside card payments.

The consultation also considers improved domestic and cross-border payment journeys, programmable payment experiences and interoperability between existing and emerging forms of digital money.

The RPIB said the infrastructure should remain flexible enough to support payment journeys that may not yet have been developed, rather than being designed only around current products and technologies.

Existing UK payment systems will continue operating

Pay.UK will continue to operate the UK’s existing retail interbank systems, including Faster Payments, Bacs and the Image Clearing System, while work on the future infrastructure progresses.

The consultation does not represent the launch of a new payment system or a final technical design. Instead, it is intended to inform a future blueprint and identify the payment journeys, priorities and design principles that the new infrastructure should support.

What it means for payment providers and merchants

For payment providers, fintech companies and international merchants, the consultation signals that the UK is exploring a broader retail payment environment built around greater payment choice and interoperability.

Account-to-account payments could gradually become more relevant at merchant checkout, while domestic infrastructure may also play a larger role in improving cross-border payment experiences.

However, implementation details, technical standards and delivery timelines have not yet been finalised. The immediate development is therefore the start of the design and consultation process, rather than an operational change for merchants.