FCA Proposes Removing Contactless Limits to Allow ‘Flexibility’

The UK Financial Conduct Authority could remove the 100-pound (about $123) contactless limit and “set new digital service standards” as part of his efforts to support the government’s growth mission.

The regulator includes these proposals on a Thursday (Jan. 16) LETTERS to the Prime Minister Keir Starmerwhich it sent in response to the government’s recommendations on growth.

FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi the letter said that the removal of the contactless limit will allow companies and customers greater flexibility and level the playing field in digital wallets.

He added that the new digital service standards may include requiring firms to accept electronic verification of death to facilitate bereavement insurance claims.

In addition to making these proposals, Rathi said in the letter that the FCA will work with Payment System Regulator (PSR) to introduce variable recurring payments as a new payment method in open banking, “increasing competition and choice,” and exercising powers expected to be acquired under Data (Usage and Access) Bill to promote open finance, “potentially mainly lending (small to medium-sized enterprises).”

These steps will join some already planned by the regulator, including the development of a digital securities sandbox and a roadmap for digital assets; improve credit information with changes in industry management; changes to online tools that explain pensions; and relying on existing frameworks for artificial intelligence rather than adding regulations, according to the letter.

“We have significant train work for this year that I set out below, with new proposals to move forward,” Rathi said in the letter, addressing Starmer. “We have listed ideas to test with you and through wider consultation, which we will do as soon as possible, including our statutory panels. it Carry On support through the academic research we commission to better understand the links between financial regulation and growth.”

Starmer promised a period of “national renewal” after the Labor Party election victory in a landslide vote, PYMNTS reports in July.

The party’s plans for the financial services sector at the time included “delivering the next phase of open banking.”

It is reported Tuesday (Jan. 21) that the chair of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority Deposed from his position by the secretary of commerce in a decision emphasizing the administration’s push to align its regulatory practices with economic priorities.