Guarantors
As a company limited by guarantee, Pay.UK has Guarantors rather than shareholders. Their primary role is to hold our board to account for the continuing fulfilment of the company’s vision and strategic objectives.
Pay.UK’s directors must not only act in a way that they consider achieves this purpose and stated objectives, they also have the general statutory duty to act in a way which they consider to most likely promote the success of the company for the benefit of all members. Both the Guarantors and the board are also required, for as long as is appropriate, to have due regard to the final report produced by PSO Delivery Group on 4 May 2017.
Currently, we have 40 Guarantors, drawn from the wider payments ecosystem.
Who can become a Guarantor?
In accordance with its Articles, any legal person may become a Guarantor of Pay.UK. The board has determined in accordance with the Eligibility Criteria, as defined in the Articles, that a ‘legal person’ shall be construed to be any firm, company or other body corporate or partnership.
Associations and trade bodies are accepted as Guarantors provided that none of its members is already a Guarantor. This is to remove the possibility that a Guarantor may inadvertently or otherwise have more than one vote at any Guarantors’ meeting (one by direct membership, the second through their trade group).
We continue to welcome dialogue and input from all associations and trade bodies that support our aims and aspirations. Further information on how these groups can get involved can be obtained from enquiries@wearepay.uk. We will also continue to use our established engagement programme to encourage applications and, if deemed appropriate by the board, target specific sectors. The board reserves the right to limit Guarantor representation from some areas if it is felt that a particular sector, as a result of numbers, has undue influence and a broader range of views is being compromised as a result.
We discuss our approach to the composition of the Guarantor group with both the Bank of England and the Payment Systems Regulator on a regular basis.