Roundtable: Future of payments infrastructure – the PSR’s consultation 24/13 on SD3

The PSR is consulting on proposed changes to Specific Direction 3 (SD3), which sets the legal requirements for Pay.UK in procuring upgraded infrastructure for payments currently made over Faster Payments (FPS). Due to changed circumstances surrounding the NPA programme, Pay.UK is no longer able to meet the deadline in our Specific Direction 3 (SD3) that it must migrate all Faster Payments transactions to competitively procured infrastructure by 1 July 2026. Those changed circumstances will likely result in the current FPS central infrastructure remaining operational for significantly longer than previously expected.

The Payments Association is gathering views from our members on the following questions during an online workshop:

1. What are your views on our proposal to replace the current deadline in SD3 with an express reference to our ability to notify Pay.UK of a new deadline?
2. What are your views on our proposal to require Pay.UK to seek our non-objection before entering into a new central infrastructure contract for Faster Payments or extending the existing one?
3. What are your views on the criteria we will take account of before deciding to notify Pay.UK of a new deadline?
4. What are your views on the drafting of SD3b (varying SD3) including the removal of reporting requirements and expanding the 2016 definition of the NPA?
5. What are your views on the potential enhancements to our Regulatory Framework in response to the changed circumstances?

This workshop will be facilitated by Tony Craddock and Robert Courtneidge from The Payments Association.

For more information please see here: PSR’s Consultation on Amending SD3. Before attending we will also send those attending our confidential paper on Transforming the UK’s Payments Infrastructure for reference.

By attending you will be able to influence our response to the consultation and ensure that our community’s views to the PSR are reflected in our response.

• Date: Tuesday 7th January 2025
• Time: 10.00- 11.30 GMT
• Where: Online (Zoom)