The Faster Payment System is available day and night, 365 days per year, supporting the demands of personal and business customers since its creation in 2008.
The service facilitates real-time payments of up to £1m* – initiated primarily online, mobile, or via telephone banking – for millions of individuals, businesses, and charities across the UK – in fact, virtually everyone with a bank account.
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This is made possible by the range of high street banks, building societies, challenger banks and other fintechs and payment service providers that connect safely and securely either directly, or indirectly, to the Faster Payment System central infrastructure.
Thanks to a new access programme launched in 2014, the number of direct Faster Payment System participants has more than tripled, with more still in the pipeline. In 2018, the launch of new rules allowing non-banks to open a settlement account at the Bank of England, saw the first non-bank join as a direct participant.
Last year, the Faster Payment System enjoyed a record-breaking 12 months, processing 3.4 billion transactions with a value of £2.6 trillion. This represented a year-on-year volume increase of 568 million payments, or 20%, and an 24% jump in values (up from £2.1 trillion in 2020).
