The Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) have reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that sets out the high-level framework the Authorities use to cooperate with one another in relation to payment systems in the UK.
The Financial Services (Banking Reform Act) 2013 requires the Authorities to review this MoU annually. The Authorities committed that this review would include feedback from regulated entities, and that a summary of the review’s findings would be published. 2017 saw the second such review.
The BoE’s Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, the FCA Board, the PRA’s Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and the PSR Board have reviewed how the MoU is working. They have considered the views of industry and staff, concluding that cooperation and coordination under the MoU is working well. Building on the initiatives identified in the 2015 review and implemented over the last year, the authorities have identified a number of areas to further improve cooperation and coordination, which are largely procedural in nature; these will be implemented over the coming year. In conducting this review, the Authorities emphasised their on-going commitment to working closely together on issues of common regulatory interest and avoiding duplication.