We work with the payment industry to build constructive relationships, so that stakeholders understand our priorities, and we understand how they are meeting our requirements.
The Supervision team helps manage our relationships with payment system operators (PSOs) and explains our regulatory expectations.
Through our active supervisory approach and continuous oversight, we make these expectations clear so we can better manage risks to our strategic aims.
We work with the industry to build constructive relationships, so that stakeholders understand our priorities, while we understand how their work delivers our objectives.
Who we supervise
Payment systems require rules and standards to establish common processes and govern how participants act when using them. The firms that own these rules and standards are PSOs.
Our work is most effective if we focus on the organisations responsible for the strategic direction of the payment systems we supervise. PSOs’ actions determine how well payments work for consumers and businesses, so we focus much of our supervisory activity on them. But in future, we may find it necessary to manage the relationships with other strategically important stakeholders.
The Treasury determines which payment systems are regulated by the PSR. The systems currently designated to us are:
- Bacs
- Cheque and Credit
- CHAPS
- Faster Payments Scheme (FPS)
- LINK
- MasterCard
- Visa Europe
- The Sterling Fnality Payment System
Find more information about the designated payment systems.
What we do
Our approach to supervision
We know that our work and decisions need to affect longer-term outcomes as well as shorter-term issues. Our Supervision team is responsible for building our knowledge and experience of working with system operators to achieve better outcomes.
Our team aims to build relationships of mutual trust through open and honest discussion. We will ensure that those who set the direction for payment systems understand the PSR’s expectations of them. We will learn from experience to understand the perspective of payment system participants.
The Supervision team acts as the main point of contact for PSOs, who can contact us whenever they need to. The team is also the initial contact point for anyone else who wants to talk to us about these firms.
Other organisations we work with
We work in the broader context of financial services regulation. Where necessary, we take account of the role of other authorities and regulators, such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England. We do not intend to duplicate either the FCA’s oversight of payment service providers or the Bank’s supervision of payment systems as financial market infrastructure. We work closely with both authorities to minimise duplication.
Get in touch
To contact the team, please email supervision@psr.org.uk or write to us at:
Supervision team
Payment Systems Regulator
12 Endeavour Square
London E20 1JN
