Update on the Payments landscape – May 2026
The payments landscape continues to evolve and this blog shares some of the topics that caught my attention during the last three months. If you think I’ve missed anything important, do please send an email to technical@treasurers.org.
The Bank of England has recently launched a consultation on extended settlement hours for the CHAPS system and in conjunction with the FCA a set of regulatory principles for tokenisation.
The P&T team are involved in the relevant working group on CHAPS and you’re welcome to feedback directly or via technical@treasurers.org
A consultation on extended settlement hours in CHAPS and RTGS.
The team continue to follow the development of the digital assets space. If you’ve specific insights feel free to share these at
Policymakers and regulators
• The Payments Vision Delivery Committee published the Payments Forward Plan. The Plan sets out upcoming initiatives across retail and wholesale payments, including elements of digital assets
• The UK government released new updates on its plans for the payments industry including:
o modernising the regulation of payment services and electronic money by integrating these frameworks with the UK’s core financial services regulation. This will establish a single, coherent framework covering both traditional and tokenised payments, including stablecoins and tokenised deposits
o regulating stablecoins used in payments under a forthcoming new regulated activity for stablecoin issuance in the UK and exploring adaptations in payment services regulation to accommodate payments conducted by AI agents
o providing the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with new powers to regulate the future of Open Banking, supporting the development of new Open Banking payment solutions within commercial schemes
o Introducing legislation to reduce administrative burdens for companies offering stablecoin payments, reinforcing the UK’s position as a global leader in digital assets while maintaining robust safeguards
o The appointment of Chris Woolard as the government’s new Wholesale Digital Markets Champion to lead efforts to build a tokenised wholesale financial markets system, enhancing efficiency and competition in the financial sector
Interesting news and reports
• The Governor of the Bank of England and Chair of the Financial Stability Board gave a speech at a Payments Summit. Acknowledging success for the last 5 years his key messages were:
o A review of implementation of FSB recommendations on data frameworks and bank and non-bank regulation and supervision to take place in 2027
o Jurisdiction Action Plans – to improve domestic payment infrastructure which is critical for enhancing cross-border payments, as the first and last mile rely on domestic rails
o Further innovation and infrastructure development building on the adoption of ISO and APIs (Application Programming Interface) and the extension of RTGS operating hours
o Reducing regulatory compliance costs without diluting standards recognising that work on the Roadmap has identified multiple sources of regulatory frictions in cross-border payments and started to address some of them
o Strong commitment and collective action from the private sector
• Meta has begun issuing stablecoin-based payouts to a limited pool of content creators. The programme currently covers eligible creators based in Colombia and the Philippines, with payments disbursed in USDC through compatible cryptocurrency wallets.
• The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation published its new strategy for 2026-2029 focusing on:
o Promote - so that compliance is the best option - and noncompliance is visibly costly
o Enable - remove friction for legitimate activity
o Respond - protect the system through visible, proportionate and timely enforcement and early disruption of harm
o Change - move beyond one off fixes to sustained compliance cultures in firms and sectors
• There has been a lot of interest in agentic payments. This article from Amazon provides a background into the various use cases and definitions of what the term refers to. MasterCard has recently announced that authenticated agentic transactions go live across ASEAN, advancing secure agentic commerce with tokenization, verifiable intent and end-to-end auditability.
• Mastercard and Rabobank completed the first AI agent-initiated payment transaction in the Netherlands, using Mastercard Agent Pay.
The transaction was conducted using Mastercard Agent Pay, a framework designed to facilitate secure, AI-initiated purchases while preserving consumer control over authorisation and data access. In the demonstration, an AI agent processed a booking for a coffee tasting on Priceless.com following a prompt from a consumer. The payment was settled using a Rabobank Mastercard credit card. The agent did not access card data directly, instead, the transaction was secured with consumer consent recorded explicitly prior to execution.
• Visa published its Business-to-AI report, outlining shifting attitudes among US consumers and business leaders toward AI-driven commercial transactions. It describes an emerging economic model in which AI agents act as active participants in commercial decision-making and execution, while humans remain accountable for intent and outcomes. Key messages include:
o 53% of U.S. businesses in the survey would allow AI agents to negotiate prices or terms directly with other AI agents on their behalf
o 71% of businesses say they are willing to optimize products, offers and experiences specifically for AI agents, while 77% are already using or piloting AI in their operations
• Global Payments issued its 11th report. Key highlights include:
o The increasing number of local payment methods going global through expansion and interoperability – “glocalization”
o Digital wallets winning in different ways around the world, moving beyond one-size-fits-all models in favour of locally relevant innovation that has helped them take a leading position across major payment markets
o The buy now, pay later category continues to expand and be reimagined by new and original players, underscoring its popularity with consumers
o Cryptocurrency as a consumer-to-merchant payment method is finding relevance through gradual evolution rather than a revolutionary path.
• The US’s Faster Payments Council published a white paper that explores the expanding landscape of instant recurring payments and assesses the strategic opportunities for financial institutions and payment originators. Traditional payment systems are often characterised by long settlement timelines, inefficiencies, and lack the finality of instant payments that affect both businesses and consumers. Instant recurring payments —powered by innovations like FedNow and the RTP network allow instant authorisation, settlement, and greater flexibility for both payers and payees. The paper focuses on key markets including insurance, subscription services, investment management, utilities, and property management.
Naresh Aggarwal
7 May 2026
