Government opens consultation on modernising payment services regulation

HM Treasury published a consultation on 14 July 2026 setting out the government's approach to modernising payment services regulation¹. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 6 October 2026¹.

The department said the pace of innovation in payments is moving fast and that careful consideration must be given to how the regulatory framework should be updated¹. It named three areas of innovation: tokenised payments, Open Banking and agentic payments¹.

The consultation document runs to 43 pages and is available as a PDF of 453 KB, alongside an HTML version¹. HM Treasury said the PDF may not be suitable for users of assistive technology and invited requests for an accessible format by email¹.

Responses can be sent by email to Modernisingpaymentservices@hmtreasury.gov.uk or by post to the Payments & Fintech team at HM Treasury, Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ¹. The department also gave a separate address, digital.communications@hmtreasury.gov.uk, for accessibility queries¹.

The consultation sits within the work of HM Treasury, which sponsors the government's approach to financial regulation and the rules that govern how firms and consumers interact. Payments oversight in the UK also involves the Payment Systems Regulator, which handles areas including fraud refunds and card fees.

Why it matters for households

The consultation concerns the rules that sit behind everyday payments: transfers between bank accounts, card payments and the newer services built on Open Banking. HM Treasury states that the framework needs to support innovation while ensuring strong consumer protections¹, so the shape of any eventual rules could affect how payment services are offered to households and what protections apply when something goes wrong.

The three areas named, tokenised payments, Open Banking and agentic payments, are not defined in the published consultation page¹. What specific changes might follow for consumers has not been reported. The consultation is a request for views rather than a set of proposals with stated effects on households, and no changes to current rules take effect from its publication.

Anyone can respond, and the closing date of 6 October 2026 applies to all responses¹. The outcome of the consultation, and whether it leads to legislative or regulatory change, has not been reported.

What happens next

The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 6 October 2026¹. Responses can be submitted by email or post to the addresses given by HM Treasury¹. No date for a government response has been published on the consultation page¹.