We are consulting on our proposed changes to the reporting requirements for our general directions on direct access (General Direction 2 and 3) and governance (General Direction 4), which apply to payment system operators in the UK.
We are seeking stakeholders’ views on these proposed changes by Friday 6 May 2016.
Background
In March 2015, following consultation, we published our policy statement PSR PS 15/1: A new regulatory framework for payment systems in the UK. As part of our policy measures in this statement, we introduced general directions on access to payment systems and the governance of payment systems.
What are we proposing?
We propose to:
- combine the reporting process for the access and governance directions for operators that are affected by both
- combine the reporting deadline for general directions 2, 3 and 4 on 31 October 2016 (covering the year to 30 September)
Why are we proposing these changes?
In December 2015 we published our first report on operators’ progress in complying with our access and governance directions. When we evaluated the operators’ first compliance reports, it became clear that there could be benefits in combining the access and governance elements into a single report (for those operators required to comply with both).
There are clear crossovers in the work operators need to do to comply with our access and governance directions. Submitting one report on compliance with our directions would be simpler and less onerous for operators.
We have also considered the submission deadline. 31 October 2016 will not only combine the reporting deadline for all three directions (2, 3 & 4) but give operators enough time to make progress on the issues we highlighted in our assessment report.
Who should read this consultation?
This paper is relevant to payment system operators Bacs, CHAPS, C&C, FPS, LINK, MasterCard and VISA.
Next steps
We welcome your feedback on our proposed changes reporting requirements by 5pm on Friday, 6 May 2016. You can respond to our consultation by sending your comments to us at: psrconsultations@psr.org.uk.
Further information
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Access and governance report 2015
We have published a report on direct access to payment systems and the governance of payment system operators in the UK. -
PSR PS 15/1: A new regulatory framework for payment systems in the UK
This Policy Statement confirms how we will regulate the payment systems industry from 1 April 2015, and reports on the main issues arising from Consultation Paper PSR CP 14/1. -
General directions