Key developments of interest over the last month include: the UK government laying the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2025 before Parliament, setting the foundation for the UK's...more
1/27/2026
/ Blockchain ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Stablecoins ,
The GENIUS Act ,
UK
Key developments of interest over the last month include: China and Vietnam launching a cross-border QR code payment system to strengthen regional payment connectivity; Banks and EMIs facing detailed new information and...more
12/16/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Wallets ,
EU ,
FinTech ,
Investors ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On 27 November 2025, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU announced that they have reached a provisional political agreement on the texts of the proposed Directive on payment services and electronic money...more
The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025. The Act includes powers for the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to issue...more
12/12/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Government Agencies ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
UK
Key developments of interest over the last month include: publication of the Payments Vision Delivery Committee’s strategy for the future UK retail payments infrastructure; the Bank of England consulting on a proposed...more
12/1/2025
/ Bank of England ,
Banking Sector ,
Blockchain ,
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
Stablecoins ,
Tokenization ,
UK
HM Treasury has announced the launch of a new Scale-up Unit jointly led by the FCA and the PRA. Initially focused on dual regulated firms (banks/building societies and insurers), plans to expand the unit's scope to solo...more
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the Australian Government consulting on draft legislation to regulate digital asset platforms and tokenised custody services; the UK and U.S. governments launching a...more
10/28/2025
/ Australia ,
Blockchain ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
Investment Products ,
New Legislation ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UK
The FCA has published the key findings from its multi-firm review of how firms detect and prevent romance fraud, and the measures they take to protect their customers against it. The FCA highlights the ‘critical importance'...more
Introduction -
The Second Payments Services Directive ((EU) 2015/2366) (“PSD2”) provided payment service users with access to their payment data by mandating that payment service providers grant “read” and (limited)...more
10/21/2025
/ Banks ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Crowdfunding ,
Data Privacy ,
Data-Sharing ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
New Legislation ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
PSD2 ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
UK
The FCA is consulting on the introduction of a new exemption from strong customer authentication (SCA) requirements for low risk contactless payments....more
9/24/2025
/ Bank Service Providers ,
Banks ,
E-Money ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Fraud ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the UK government’s consultation on consolidating the Payment Systems Regulator into the FCA to streamline oversight of payment systems; the South African Reserve...more
9/24/2025
/ Blockchain ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
CFTC ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Investment ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
The FCA has shared examples of good practice and areas for improvement from the applications for authorisation or registration that it has seen. The focus is on how firms demonstrate in their applications that they have...more
9/15/2025
/ Best Practices ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internal Controls ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
1. Introduction -
Given the sea change of PSD2, one might expect the prospect of the proposed PSD3 and PSR to have PSPs groaning at the thought of yet more root and branch reg change projects. However, whilst the proposals...more
9/5/2025
/ Banks ,
E-Money ,
EU ,
European Council ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinTech ,
New Regulations ,
Payment Systems ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's decision to restart the open banking rulemaking process; the UK FCA's publication of a policy statement with final...more
8/28/2025
/ Advocate General ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Digital Assets ,
E-Money ,
Electronic Payment Transactions ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Money Laundering ,
Open Banking ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Stablecoins
The FCA believes that some payments firms do not currently have sufficiently robust safeguarding practices. This poses a risk of harm to consumer and market integrity that the FCA is seeking to mitigate. ...more
8/28/2025
/ Consultation Papers ,
Contractual Safeguards ,
E-money tokens ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Payment Systems ,
Reconciliation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Statutory Trusts ,
UK
The ECJ has confirmed that a payment service user (PSU) is deprived of the right to reimbursement for an unauthorised transaction under PSD1 if: they fail to notify without undue delay upon becoming aware of it; or...more
8/28/2025
/ Advocate General ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
New Legislation ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) ,
PSD ,
PSD2 ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reimbursements
The FCA has finalised the changes that were proposed in May this year to make it easier for customers to engage with mortgage providers and make reductions to mortgage terms and remortgaging easier. This includes removing the...more
Key developments of interest over the last month include: the UK government's communications in connection with the Chancellor's annual Mansion House speech, and the launch of its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness...more
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has delivered her second Mansion House speech and announced the “Leeds Reforms” in conjunction with publication of the awaited Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy and related...more
Following the FCA’s May 2025 ‘first steps’ consultation on proposals to simplify its mortgage framework via a Mortgage Rule Review (MRR), it has now published a discussion paper on the future of the mortgage market. The...more
On 6 June 2025, the FCA announced in a press release its proposal to lift the ban on selling crypto exchange traded notes (cETNs) to retail investors. If adopted, cETNs could be made available to individuals, provided the...more
As with the European Parliament’s April 2024 adopted texts, the Council of the EU’s proposed amendments to the European Commission’s June 2023 legislative proposals touch on some significant areas of interest for payment...more
Key developments of interest over the last month include: draft legislation to regulate BNPL credit in the UK (in contrast to the de-prioritising of enforcement of BNPL regulatory breaches in the US); final confirmation of UK...more
5/22/2025
/ Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
HM Treasury ,
Payment Systems ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
Following a March 2025 press release and letter to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury announcing plans to improve access to mortgages to support the government’s economic growth mission, the FCA has published a ‘first...more
While recent announcements have focussed on the government’s growth agenda, HM Treasury (HMT) has also now pressed ahead with publishing final draft regulations limiting the rights for banks and other payment service...more