At the meeting members discussed the Forum’s work programme, the establishment of working groups and a number of strategy setting principles and priorities that were identified through a series of consultations with the Payments Community. Minutes from the meeting are available online.

Ruth Evans, the Forum’s chair said:

“The Payments Community told us that the Forum should focus on a realistic and manageable set of items over the next 12 months. To this end, they identified a set of priorities and these formed the basis of our discussions at the first meeting,”

At the end of the meeting four initial working groups were established to support strategy over the next 12 months. These include:

User-needs working group

Chaired by Sian Williams, Toynbee Hall and deputy chair, Nick Davies, DWP.

To understand and address user-needs identified by the Payments Community.

Simplifying access to markets working group

Chaired by Marion King, RBS and deputy chair, Becky Clements, Metro Bank.

To examine whether and how payment systems can be developed to simplify access to the markets.

Financial crime working group

Chaired by Russell Saunders, Lloyds Banking Group.

To examine whether and how payment systems can be used to develop centralised functions aimed at preventing financial crime.

Horizon scanning working stream

Chaired by Carlos Sanchez, Orwell Group.

To research and present a regular horizon scanning report to the Forum. The report will identify key regulatory and technological developments and suggest how these might be relevant to the Forum’s work.

Participation in the working groups is open to all. If you can commit the time and effort required to contribute to the working group’s progress, we would want to hear from you.

How to participate in the Working Groups

Individuals are invited to register their interest by Wednesday 28 October 2015 via email to: Forum@psr.org.uk. Nominations received after this date will be considered on an ad-hoc basis. Expressions of interest must include your name, organisation, contact details, the working group(s) you would like to join and indicates the support (i.e. research, analysis, other work, resources, etc.) you can contribute to the working group. The chairs/secretariat of the working groups will confirm dates and other logistical information.

Further opportunities for engagement with the Payments Community have also been identified and a high-level overview covering the next 12 months is available for download. Work on the engagement with the Community is on-going and the secretariat will be in touch shortly.

Forthcoming meetings

The Second Forum Meeting will be held on Tuesday 15 December 2015. Documents will be made available online in advance of the meeting.