Legislation

Different legal texts that set out the PSR's objectives, duties and powers

Legislation includes the different legal texts which set out the PSR’s objectives, duties and powers.

The main legislation that applies to us is the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013, which created the PSR. It sets out our statutory objectives and duties, regulatory principles we must follow, our regulatory and enforcement powers.

Legislation.gov.uk provides a detailed FAQ about the status of legislation which can be found on its website.

Our concurrent competition powers are mentioned in FSBRA. The key UK legislation for competition law is the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002.

We are the lead authority in the UK for the Interchange Fee Regulations. Our IFR powers are set out in the Payment Card Interchange Fee Regulations 2015.

The EU Payment Services Directive ('PSD2') contains Article 28 which applies to the PSR – it relates to access to the LINK, MasterCard and Visa payment systems. This is translated into UK legislation in Part 8 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017.

Information gateways

We have ‘information gateways’ between ourselves and other authorities that enable us to share and receive confidential information where this advances our objectives and functions, or the objectives and functions of the other authority.

Other rules

We are also subject to a range of other rules, including on data protection and Freedom of Information legislation.

Latest legislative changes

Legislation has recently been passed by Parliament which makes several changes that affect payment systems.

As part of the PSR's commitment to transparency you can read them in our latest legislative developments update.