New Payment System Operator (NPSO) has assumed operational responsibility of the UK’s Bacs and Faster Payments systems, which collectively process £6.3 trillion of payments every year.

At the same time, the two payment schemes have now become subsidiaries of NPSO.

NPSO CEO Paul Horlock said: “Bacs and Faster Payments have developed a huge amount of trust in payments through the certainty, integrity and security inherent in their systems. The NPSO will maintain that stability and security whilst ensuring the continued relevance and competitiveness of the services we provide. This is our opportunity to create the future of retail payments in the UK, driving value for people and businesses and enabling a vibrant UK economy.”

NPSO was established in 2017 to bring together the Bacs Payment Schemes, Faster Payments Scheme, Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC) under one roof.

The move to merge the retail payment system operators followed a recommendation of the group formed by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and Bank of England, and aims to decrease complexities of having separate retail payment system operators.

The merged entity will be responsible for driving the next stage of the development of the New Payments Architecture (NPA), which is an industry-led initiative that aims to increase competition in the payments and banking industry.

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Later this year, NPSO plans to take up responsibility of C&CCC that handles the paper processing system for cheques in the UK as well as UK Payments Administration that offers people, facilities and expertise to the country’s payments sector.

Bank of England director of financial market infrastructure David Bailey added: “The Bank will supervise the NPSO, in its role as the operator of these systemically important payment systems. Through this, and working closely with the PSR, we look forward to monitoring the NPSO’s progress in realising the significant benefits to end users and financial stability that it has been created to deliver.”