UK Treasury Unveils Measures to Modernize Payment Services Regulation

The UK Treasury, alongside Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby, announced a series of initiatives during London Fintech Week aimed at modernizing payment services regulation and enhancing the competitiveness of the UK's fintech sector. According to Foresight News, the plan's core involves establishing a unified regulatory framework that integrates traditional and tokenized payments, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits. Legislation targeting stablecoin payments is also proposed to reduce administrative burdens on related companies. Additionally, the UK government has appointed Chris Woolard as the Wholesale Digital Markets Champion to lead efforts in financial asset tokenization and wholesale digital market strategies. The plan will also explore regulatory adjustments for AI agent payments and grant new powers to the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to oversee the future development of Open Banking. Other measures include an additional £1 million funding for the Centre for Finance, Innovation, and Technology (CFIT) and plans to merge the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) into the FCA to streamline regulatory processes.