UK retail payments authority seeks strategic tech partner
Delivering the future of payments in the UK
UK retail payments authority Pay.UK (formerly the New Payment System Operator, NPSO) is looking for a strategic partner to “collaboratively deliver the future of payments in the UK”.
It has published a “Strategic Partner Procurement Prospectus”, which marks the starting point of a competitive process to appoint a strategic partner to help define, deliver and operate “an evolving world-class payments infrastructure” – New Payments Architecture (NPA).
NPA is be processing trillions of pounds worth of payments every year.
NPA, which is described as “a new conceptual model for payments in the UK”, will take over the processing of Bacs, Faster Payments and potentially cheque payments.
“Bringing them together will catalyse innovation – meaning better payment services for everyone – by simplifying the rules, standards and processes that banks and others need to follow to use the systems,” Pay.UK explains.
The prospectus sets out the qualities required of potential partners – which could be a single supplier or a prime-led consortium – as well as explaining the various stages of the procurement process and the related timescales.
The successful partner will be responsible for the design and build of the clearing and settlement layer of NPA, which includes the provision of hardware, software, secure communications and security standards and operating environments.
The design of the infrastructure should be able to flex and accommodate future volume changes that arise as a result of the Internet of Things (IoT), PSD2 and interoperability demands.
It is expected that the successful strategic partner will be selected in Q2 2020.
“Our key purpose is to enable a vibrant UK economy. This is the start of a hugely exciting journey to deliver this objective,” states Paul Horlock, CEO of Pay.UK.
The “Strategic Partner Procurement Prospectus” is available to download here.
