Payment Systems Regulator
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is the economic regulator responsible for overseeing payment systems in the United Kingdom. Established on 1 April 2015 under the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013, the PSR was created to promote competition, innovation, and the interests of users within the UK's payment systems. Headquartered in London, the regulator operates as an independent subsidiary of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) while exercising its statutory functions independently. The PSR supervises designated payment systems and the organizations participating in them, ensuring that payment services operate efficiently, securely, and in the interests of consumers and businesses.
The PSR regulates the operators and participants of major payment systems designated by HM Treasury, including the Bacs Payment System, CHAPS, Faster Payments, LINK, Visa, and Mastercard payment systems within the United Kingdom. Its principal responsibilities include promoting effective competition, ensuring fair access to payment systems, improving operational resilience, enhancing innovation, protecting payment service users, and addressing anti-competitive practices. The regulator has powers to issue directions, impose requirements, conduct investigations, and enforce compliance with payment systems legislation. It also oversees issues relating to interchange fees, fraud prevention, reimbursement mechanisms, and the development of next-generation payment infrastructure.
In addition to regulation and enforcement, the PSR conducts market reviews, publishes policy consultations, and develops regulatory frameworks supporting the modernization of the UK's payments ecosystem. The regulator has played an important role in advancing open banking, digital payments, real-time payment infrastructure, account-to-account payments, anti-fraud initiatives, and access to cash services. It also works to improve transparency, resilience, consumer protection, and operational efficiency while encouraging technological innovation and competition among payment service providers and financial technology (fintech) firms.
The Payment Systems Regulator works closely with institutions including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), HM Treasury, Pay.UK, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Internationally, it cooperates with organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and payment system regulators in other jurisdictions. Through regulation, policy development, market oversight, and consumer protection, the PSR plays a central role in promoting secure, competitive, innovative, and resilient payment systems within the United Kingdom's financial infrastructure.