Sarah Breeden: Talking 'bout next generation
Remarks by Ms Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England, at the City & Financial Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit 2026, London, 2 February 2026.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
It's a pleasure to be here to talk about the UK's work to renew our retail payments infrastructure, and the significant role the Bank of England is playing in that.
After all, money and payments are at the heart of the Bank's monetary and financial stability role. This is core central banking – using our own infrastructure and balance sheet, and our convening power at the heart of the financial system, to ensure trust in money and drive responsible innovation in payments in support of long-term economic growth.
The advancing frontier for retail payments - internationally and technologically
Retail payments in the UK have no doubt improved in recent decades. We were among the first in the world to launch, through Faster Payments (FPS) in 2008, a 24/7 system for instant, interbank retail payments. And today, many people have a quick and seamless payments experience - with near ubiquitous contactless card payments and mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
But the frontier of innovation in money and payments has not stopped there.
We only have to look abroad to see examples of interbank retail payment systems that offer options and functionality not available to people in the UK. That is perhaps not a surprise given the UK was a first mover internationally. Nonetheless, it remains the case that UPI in India, Pix in Brazil and Swish in Sweden are used alongside cards for retail payments in a way that doesn't yet happen in the UK. Individuals can pay retailers in-store or online out of their bank accounts without going via cards – offering savings particularly for small businesses. And people increasingly make payments between different banks using only the recipient's mobile phone number or a QR code.