The Government has launched a consultation to feed into the Payments Landscape Review. This Call for Evidence is the first stage in the review and sets out the government’s aims for payments networks in the UK, makes a high-level assessment of how well the present system is delivering against the government’s aims and asks questions about the opportunities, gaps and risks that need to be addressed in order to ensure that the UK maintains its status as a country at the cutting edge of payments technology. The consultation closes on 20 October 2020, and the BRC will be submitting a comprehensive response following a programme of member engagement.

The following day the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) too launched its future Strategy consultation, with the purpose of defining clear outcomes for the payments sector. You can find more detail about the strategy here, including an introductory video message from the senior team at the PSR. Over the coming three months, the PSR will be consulting on three key themes (below), with a specific set of questions published on each theme (feedback to psrstrategy@psr.org.uk):

• Innovation & future payment methods: How can the PSR promote a choice of payment methods that suits the needs and preferences of people and businesses? 
• Competition: What role does the PSR play to ensure that competition is effective at all levels of the payments chain?
• Choice and availability of payment methods: How do we ensure that enough options are available to allow all people and businesses to make the payments they need and want to make? 

The BRC will be engaging fully in this process, engaging members through the same process as that for the related Payments Landscape Review. The PSR planning to consult on a full draft strategy before the end of the year.