Facts, fines, relationships and costs

Issue 515 | 27 July 2023

15 key facts that every payments geek should know

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published their Annual Report and Accounts for 2022/23.

At 194 pages it’s a (very) comprehensive report so this update provides links to the relevant PSR documents, extracts 15 key facts that every payments geek should know, summarises fines levied, explores the relationships across the various regulatory authorities and compares the PSR’s income and costs for 2022/23 with the planned cost profile for 2023/24.

---

Annual report and accounts 2022/23

With more than 40 billion transactions every year, payment systems are a vital and ever-evolving part of our economy. Payments are an essential part of daily life and it’s the PSR’s job to make sure the systems underpinning them continue to work well for everyone.  

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) had published its 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts.

Helpfully, along with the full document, the PSR had published a handy factsheet as well as a Strategy Outcomes Progress Report looking at the progress made so far against the regulator’s five-year Strategy. 

Also, you’ll find the PSR’s work programme for the year ahead here: 2023/24 Annual Plan.

At 194 pages in length and with so much covered in the annual report and accounts it’s impossible to summarise the full document (you’ll have to grab a comfy seat and a coffee and read it yourself) but here are:

• The top 15 key facts from the report.

• A summary of fines levied by the PSR.

• A helpful Venn diagram outlining regulatory interactions.

• A summary of the PSR’s income and costs for 2022/23 and cost profile for 2023/24.

---

15 key facts that every payments geek should know

To whet your appetite here are 15 key facts from the PSR’s report:

• Although cash usage is falling, it remains one of the most used payment methods. The percentage of payments made using cash decreased from 55% in 2011 to 15% in 2021.

• A significant minority of people still pay regularly using cash. Elderly people and people living in deprived areas are more likely to pay using cash. Across the country, 26% of people report using cash at least as much as other payment methods. However, this rises to 37% of people living in deprived areas and 41% of people aged over 65.

• Most people still have good access to cash, although the total number of free cash machines has gone down. 96.3% of the UK population live within 2km of a free cash access point, and 99.8% are within 5km of one, despite a 13% decline in the number of free-to- use ATMs between 2019 and 2022.

• To preserve free access to cash, and ensure good geographic coverage, LINK has protected more ATMs. LINK designates an ATM as protected if there are no free-to-use ATMs within 1km. The number of protected ATMs increased by 5% between August 2021 and December 2022.

• Many users have been to shops that do not accept cash. 37% of people surveyed said they’d visited a cashless store in the past month. However, this proportion has decreased from a peak of 44% in 2021, potentially due to stores relaxing the precautions they took due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite many people having encountered cashless stores, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reports that 98% of small businesses have said that if a customer needed to pay in cash then they would not refuse them.

• The value of reported authorised push payment (APP) scams has seen a slight decline in 2022 after dramatic increases over the last six years, while the value of reported card fraud has slightly increased in 2022. Between 2020 and 2021 there was a 39% increase in reported APP scams value, followed by a decrease of 17% in 2022.14 The total value of reported card fraud increased by 6% in 2022.

• Confirmation of Payee (CoP) now covers the vast majority of Faster Payments transactions. 92% are now subject to CoP checks,19 which makes it harder for criminals to commit fraud.

• Awareness of consumer protection is improving, and users appreciate stronger authorisation methods. For example, 94% of users agree that strong customer authentication (relating to card transactions) gives them confidence that their payments are safe and secure.