The PSR Panel has today published its second annual report outlining how it has engaged with the PSR over the last 12 months.
We have worked closely with the Panel since its formation and continued to develop a strong relationship with its members, the PSR board and executive team.
The Panel’s focus during the last two years has included establishing its foundations and building relationships to provide support on how we can best meet our objectives. We have worked with the Panel to make the best use of the expertise and knowledge of all the Panel members.
We welcome the work of the Panel and in particular, would like to thank the chairman Stephen Locke for all his hard work in cementing the Panel’s excellent working relationship with us. We would like to thank Colin Tyler - representative of large corporate users, who retired at the end of December 2016. We welcomed two new members David Gaselee and Conor Langford, representatives of the banking and payment card sectors respectively.
The diverse expertise and experience of each Panel member has been invaluable and has enabled us to receive detailed advice and guidance from our ‘critical friend’ to ensure we consider a range of views when undertaking our work.
Overview of the last year
- The Panel has provided input on the proposed consolidation of existing Payment System Operators (PSO’s), which is intended to simplify access to, and the governance of, payment systems - helping drive innovation and competition across the industry.
- The Panel’s insight into the work undertaken in response to the Which? super-complaint on authorised push payment (APP) scams, has enabled us to consider the potential for PSO’s to play an expanded role in addressing these concerns. This work will help payments work well for all users.
- We are continuing to work with the Panel to improve Access to payment systems.
- The Panel’s input has informed our decisions to develop new exploratory work, including the Changing Competitive Dynamics, Payments Data and Customer Protection work.
What’s next
As a result of our ongoing work with the Panel, considerations over the next 12 months may include:
- Which? - we expect to publish updates and seek input where necessary, to resolve detriments faced by end users.
- PSO Consolidation – we expect consolidation to be completed by the end of 2017, and it is important that implementation of the consolidation is done well.
- Exploratory work – provide input as we take forward each of the projects for the exploratory work, including for example, how data is currently used and changes that are being driven by regulatory and industry initiatives such as PSDII and Open Banking. We will also consider challenges with privacy, security and data protection.
- Access – we will continue to consider work which will enhance Access, as this is a key component to driving innovation, and competition in retail banking.
We look forward to continuing our open dialogue with the Panel as we work with the industry towards building a payments landscape that is innovative, competitive and works well for all users.
