Tata to take over UK’s Faster Payments network?

Indian conglomerate Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a reported to be leading the pack shortlisted to replace Vocalink as the administrator of the UK’s Faster Payments network – a process being scrutinised by regulators and the Bank of England.

Tata to take over UK’s Faster Payments network

The Faster Payments network is a key piece of the UK’s economic infrastructure responsible for processing more than 90% of salaries, over 70% of household bills and almost all state benefit payments.

The procurement process, which has taken place amid rapid developments in global payments technology, is shrouded in secrecy.

A formal decision has yet to be made by regulators, although several people close to the process say they understand that TCS had edged ahead of the incumbent Vocalink, which is owned by Mastercard.

The appointment of a new operator of the Faster Payments Service is said to be on hold until the government publishes a revised sector strategy called Vision for Payments.

In a statement the Payment Systems Regulator said: “A competitive procurement process to deliver investments to the UK’s payments infrastructure was run by the operator, Pay.UK.

As the regulator of the UK’s payment systems, we work with the Bank of England to review any proposals.

However, the process is currently paused while we await the government’s recently announced Vision for Payments, which we expect later this year.”

In a review written for the government last year, Joe Garner, the former Nationwide chief executive, highlighted that gaps in consumer protection had been exposed by the explosion in faster payments activity in Britain.

He also pointed to the current system’s failure to develop a “slick” experience for consumers.

The value of the contract to the next operator of the FPS is unclear.

“Pay.UK is conducting a comprehensive and competitive procurement process for the New Payments Architecture,” a spokesperson for Pay.UK said.

“We have carefully examined prospective vendors and considered all relevant data, competition and regulatory requirements. We are now going through the necessary regulatory non-objection and assurance process. We will not comment further while the process is ongoing.”

A Mastercard spokeswoman said: “We have not received any communication from Pay.UK on the matter.

“The bid process is still in the regulatory non-object phase.”

Mastercard has owned Vocalink since 2016, when it bought the company in a deal worth about £700 million.