Included in this issue: UK card payments have overtaken cash for the first time ever; Final EBA guidelines on professional indemnity insurance under PSD2; PSR annual report for 2016/17 and more... 

UK

UK card payments have overtaken cash for the first time ever

Debit cards have overtaken cash to become the number one payment method in the UK, according to data collected by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Last year, the share of debit card payments grew by 4.5% to almost 43% of all retail transactions. In contrast, cash saw a 4.9% shrinkage in its share of retail purchases to account for 42%. With credit and charge card transaction volumes growing slightly, for the first time more than half of all retail purchases were made using plastic. The BRC puts the increasing use of cards down to a number of factors, with one of the biggest being the rise of contactless payments and another the growing number of retailers that have invested in technology to accept new payment applications both online and in-store.

BRC, 12 July 2017

PSR responds to Competition and Markets Authority’s approval to create New Payments Systems Operator

The consolidation of the operators of Bacs, the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company and Faster Payments Scheme has been given approval by the Competition and Markets Authority. Hannah Nixon's, Managing Director of the PSR, response is published in a press release.

PSR, 12 July 2017

Revolut gains a $66 million investment round

Money transfer outfit Revolut has announced a $66 million investment round and have plans for a £4 million crowdfunding campaign as it looks beyond Europe's borders to Asia and the US and builds on its progression into a fully-fledged banking-as-a-service platform. 

Finextra, 12 July 2017

PSR annual report for 2016/17

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published its annual report and accounts for 2016/17, containing a chapter on its competition activities. The PSR has also published a factsheet summarising the content of its annual report.

PSR 5 July 2017

Bank of England publishes results of latest Fintech Accelerator proofs of concept round

The Bank of England has published a press release summarising the results of the latest round of proofs of concept (PoC) considered by its FinTech Accelerator. The PoCs cover four important areas of the Bank’s work: analysing large-scale supervisory data sets; executing high-value payments across currencies and borders; identifying and applying cross-cutting legal themes from regulatory enforcement actions; and measuring performance on the Bank’s internal projects portfolio. The test did not involve real money, nor any of the BoE’s core systems, or even use blockchain technology itself. However, the PoC marks an important moment for the blockchain community.

BoE, 11 July 2017

Worldwide

EBA issues final guidelines on authorisation and registration under PSD2

The EBA has published a final report which contains final guidelines on the information to be provided by applicants intending to obtain authorisation as a payment institution (PI) or e-money institution (EMI), or to register as an account information service provider (AISP), under PSD2.

EBA, 11 July 2017

Final EBA guidelines on professional indemnity insurance under PSD2 

The EBA has published a final report setting out guidelines on the criteria on how to stipulate the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance or other comparable guarantees under the revised PSD2.

EBA, 7 July 2017

European Commission inception impact assessment on review of SEPA Migration Regulation

The European Commission has published an inception impact assessment on a review of the SEPA Migration Regulation (924/2009) to consider extending the scope of the Regulation to all non-euro currencies in the EU. The impact assessment (also referred to as a roadmap) explains that the SEPA Migration Regulation equalised fees for cross-border and national payments in euros within the EU, which has led to a reduction in transaction fees for payments in euros to a few cents. However, payments in other EU currencies tend to be much more expensive, which creates economic barriers between member states and imposes significant costs on anyone making cross-border transactions in non-euro currencies. The only exception is the Swedish krona, as Sweden extended the SEPA Migration Regulation to its currency. The Commission will hold a public consultation on the initiative, plus targeted consultations through online questionnaires and interviews. The Commission's Payment Systems Market Expert Group and Financial Services User Group will also be consulted. An accompanying webpage states that feedback can be given for four weeks after the impact assessment is open for feedback (that is, until 1 August 2017).

EC, 5 July 2017