Double digit growth (and decline)

Issue 456 | 25 February 2023

---

Double digit growth (and decline)

In this second round up of retail payments in 2023 (for the 12 months to the end of January 2023) we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster Payments and double digit decline in cheque clearing.

The growth in volumes for the UK’s bulk clearing scheme and the UK’s real time gross settlement system are unchanged with the growth in the value processed both increasing by 1%¹.

---

Today’s Payments:Unpacked is brought to you by AnswerPay

According to a survey by HSBC 19% of small businesses see cash flow as their biggest issue. With the cost of living crisis continuing to bite, what is your bank doing to help?

Click here to simplify remote payments and integrate Request to Pay.

---

Volume and values of the UK’s payment systems

Source: Pay.UK

---

Faster Payments

In the 12 months to the end of January 2023:

• Single Immediate Payment volumes have increased by 17% (12 months to December 18%)

• Total Faster Payment volumes have increased by 15% (12 months to December 15%)

• Single Immediate Payment values have increased by 28% (12 months to December 28%)

• Total Faster Payment values have increased by 25% (12 months to December 25%).

The meteoric rise in Faster Payments volumes continues to be bolstered by a switch from analogue to digital payments and the growing importance of Open Banking initiated Account to Account (A2A) payments.

The widespread use of Faster Payments is a digital payment habit that will be here to stay, reinforced throughout each lockdown and with volumes and values continuing to increase month on month.

Although the trajectory has flattened a little further given the similar conditions in place for most of the year, the overall increase year on year is still significant and looks set to continue for some while to come – particularly with inflationary pressures also having an impact on the value of payments processed.

The future is certainly bright for Faster Payments – continued growth from Open Banking A2A payments, payments initiated by overlay services such as Request to Pay and Variable Recurring payments is certainly on the agenda. The growth is likely to be bolstered through the introduction of new Faster Payment types (or flavours) as part of version 1.0 of the planned New Payments Architecture and, perhaps, through a future planned migration of Bacs Direct Credit payments into the NPA.

---

Bacs Direct Debit and Direct Credit

In the 12 months to the end of January 2023:

• Bacs Direct Credit volumes have increased by 4% (12 months to December increased by 3%)