The UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has
given a qualified endorsement of the Payments Council (PC) in a
review of its operations published in March. The Payments Council
is the industry organisation established in 2006 to set strategy
for the UK payments system.
In its review the OFT found that the industry
has a much more effective strategic direction since the PC’s
establishment. Key improvements the PC has overseen include
speeding up of cheque clearance and implementation of the Faster
Payments Service (FPS), which allows low-value payments to be
cleared almost instantaneously.
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On a critical note the OFT found the PC’s
progress to be disappointing in some areas. For example, the OFT
noted that the PC is too slow in driving improved payments for
customers, with the FPS only operating at 69 percent capacity
across member banks.
Notably, in April 2009 a survey undertaken by
consumer body Which? found that 65 percent of respondents did not
know whether their provider had introduced the FPS.
The PC was also criticised by the OFT for not
giving more attention to putting plans in place to ensure that if
one payment system fails, the others can take the strain.
The PC, stressed the OFT, should also be more
proactive in establishing where improvements are necessary, rather
than reacting to external pressures.
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By GlobalDataThe PC’s board comprises 11 directors from the
banking and payments industry and five independent directors, one
of whom is a non-voting chairman.
