Catch up on our most viewed payments stories from February 2025.
UK Government mulls abolishment of Payment Systems Regulator
Our most read news story from February was the announcement that the UK government is considering scrapping the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and folding it into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As it currently stands, the PSR and FCA share certain
operational services, though the PSR remains a fully independent subsidiary of the FCA. Folding the PRS into the FCA is considered as an effort to remove red tape from the economy.
Payments Canada makes 'substantial progress' on Real-Time Rail
After facing
numerous delays and struggling to get its Real-Time Rail (RTR) off the ground, Payments Canada earlier this month announced the new team is now more than halfway through the technical build of the RTR. The build is expected to continue over the first quarter
of this year, ahead of testing and increased direct member engagement. However, a go-live date is yet to be announced, even though Payments Canada originally targeted a launch
as early as 2019.
Fico to add BNPL data to credit scores
In light of the increasing popularity of buy now, pay layer (BNPL) schemes, Fico and Affirm released their results from a year-long study examining BNPL’s impact on credit scores. “Understanding how to effectively capture the benefit that BNPL data can have
on Fico Scores is crucial to all stakeholders in the credit ecosystem,” commented Ethan Dornhelm, VP, scores and predictive analytics, Fico. Following the results of the study, Fico it is now developing a way to introduce its proprietary treatment of BNPL
data to the credit-scoring marketplace.
BNY sends largest instant payment in US history
Earlier this month, BNY successfully leveraged The Clearing House's RTP Network to transfer the largest instant payment in US history, sending $10 million to Bank of America. The payment, made on behalf of Computershare, was made possible after The Clearing
House increased the network’s transaction limit from $1 million to $10 million ahead of the transfer.
UK government issues tender to bring open banking to Gov.UK Pay
GOV.UK Pay, the online payment service for government and public sector organisations, is used by over 1000 different public sector services and has processed over 94 million transactions since 2016. The UK government has now issued a market notice, inviting
bidders for an estimated £49 million contract to embed open banking technology into Gov.UK Pay.
Klarna inks JPMorgan Payments deal to expand merchant services offering
Swedish BNPL giant Klarna has finalised a deal to make their payment methods, including interest-free BNPL and flexible financing options, available on the JPMorgan Payments’ Commerce Solutions Platform. JPMorgan Payments, the world’s largest merchant acquirer,
processes more than $2 trillion in transactions annually.
People queue up at Barclays ATMs to withdraw 'free' cash
During the first weekend of February 2025, Barclays suffered a two-day outage, leaving customers unable to cash their salaries or pay their bills. While online banking, telephone support, and payments in and out of accounts were all hit, it appeared that
the bank's cash machines were functional up to a point. Word spread on social media that Barclays customers could utilise a glitch to withdraw what appeared to be a free £250 from their account using high street ATMs. Both the police and Barclays quickly informed
the public that this was not ‘free cash’ and any withdrawals would be debited from customer accounts upon resumption of normal service.