Expansion of Variable Recurring Payments (VRP): The PSR is consulting on changes to Faster Payments to enable a phased expansion of VRP to additional low-risk use cases as recommended in the VRP working group blueprint. The use cases proposed are: (i) payments to regulated financial services, (ii) regulated utilities sectors, and (iii) local and central government.
Cross border interchange fees: The PSR has published an interim report on its market review into cross-border interchange fees (IF) which has provisionally found that the market is not working well due to ineffective constraints. To remedy this, the PSR proposes to introduce a price cap on IFs and is seeking views on its proposals and market review provisional findings.
APP Fraud: The PSR has finalised its new reimbursement requirements for APP fraud. The policy statement confirms: (i) the maximum level of reimbursement for all consumers will be set at £415,000, (ii) `sending' payment firms can apply a claim excess of up to £100 (excluding vulnerable customers), and (iii) its final position on the consumer standard of caution. Additionally, reimbursement costs will be shared 50:50 between `sending' and `receiving' firms. The reimbursement requirement will come into force on 7 October 2024. Read our article on APP scams above for more detail on these developments.
Card acquiring services: The PSR is consulting on proposals to revise its Specific Directions 14, 15 and 16, which relate to the supply of card-acquiring services. The proposals: (i) update the list of directed legal entities, (ii) introduce a more efficient mechanism to capture future changes, a (iii) add a new supplier to the list of directed parties under the directions. The new mechanism proposed means that where a directed Payment System Provider (PSP) transfers its business to another, the new business automatically becomes a directed PSP.
Open Banking developments: The Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC) reported its progress on the open banking roadmap. JROC has made significant progress on many actions, including expanding Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) and improving data sharing. However, finalising the structure, governance, and funding of the future entity overseeing open banking has been delayed until Q1 2024. Further, the transition from Open Banking Limited (OBL) to the future entity has been pushed back until Q2 2024.
TPR general code: On 10 January, the TPR's new general code was laid in parliament. The new code brings together ten existing codes of practice in a single set of clear and consistent expectations for pension scheme governance and administration. The code is expected to come into force on 27 March 2024.