Payments: Artificial Intelligence
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the legal framework for payments initiated by autonomous software agents.
Answered by Treasury
Payments are a fundamental component of a thriving financial sector, and the Government wants the UK to be at the forefront of the safe development of agentic payments. The Government’s National Payments Vision is for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.
A number of steps are being taken to lay the foundations for the safe adoption of agentic payments in the UK. Firstly, the Government is consulting on modernising payment services regulation. This consultation asks whether and how the regulatory framework needs to evolve to ensure the safe adoption of agentic payments. This consultation closes on 6 October, and the Government will consider the responses carefully.
Agentic payments are also being considered in the design of the new payments infrastructure. In June, the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board published a consultation on the Design of the Future Retail Payments Infrastructure. This asked what capabilities or functions the next-generation infrastructure would need to support the safe provision of agentic payments.
Finally, in July, the Financial Conduct Authority launched its second supercharged sandbox cohort, where participating firms are exploring use cases designed to enable agent-led payments and commerce.
The Government also engages with international partners on payments innovation. As agentic payments develop, the Government will continue to work with international partners to support approaches that enable innovation while maintaining appropriate consumer protection and security.
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