Faster Payments marches on (again)

Issue 311 | 27 April 2022

In this edition of the Payments:Unpacked Tracker we unpack the latest volumes and values of payments processed in the UK through the Bacs, CHAPS, Faster Payments, Cheque and Debit / Credit Card schemes.

Note: All data is publicly sourced and is the latest available: Pay.UK March 2022, Link April 2022 and UK Finance January 2022.

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March 2022 Data

In this fourth round up of retail payments in 2022, we see the impact on the volume and value of payments processed in the UK following the easing of Covid restrictions, compared to the final weeks of Lockdown 3.0 conditions in 2021.

Source: Pay.UK Limited

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Faster Payments

In the 12 months to the end of March 2022 we see that:

• Single Immediate Payment volumes have increased by 22% (12 months to February 23%)

• Total Faster Payment volumes have increased by 21% (12 months to February 22%)

• Single Immediate Payment values have increased by 25% (12 months to February 26%)

• Total Faster Payment values have increased by 25% (12 months to February 26%).

The trend has continued in March with both volumes and values significantly ahead of 2021 levels. March 2022 saw an increase of 13% in the volume of Single Immediate Payments processed in the month compared to 2021 and 20% in the value of Single Immediate 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. The trajectory has flattened a little when similar conditions have been in place year on year – but the overall increase does not look likely to be changing any time soon.

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Cheques

In the 12 months to the end of March 2022 we see that:

• Cheque volumes have decreased by 12% (12 months to February 13%).

• Cheque values have decreased by 1% (12 months to February 3%).

Volumes processed by the Image Clearing System in March were 13% lower than during March 2021 and values 10% lower. Although volumes are falling as many have undoubtedly switched to digital payment options, there is an underlying level of usage which continues to be seen in this method of payment.

With volumes of digital payments continuing to increase, the share of legacy payments within the total continues to fall. For the twelve months to March 2021 the volume of Cheque payments accounted for 2% of the total (for Bacs/CHAPS/Faster payments and Image Clearing System) falling to 1.4% in March 2022.