Strengthening trust and transparency in account‑to‑account (A2A) payments is central to ensuring the UK’s payments ecosystem continues to evolve with confidence. As part of our ongoing work to support delivery of Certainty of Fate (CoF) for A2A retail transactions, Pay.UK – working closely with Open Banking Limited (OBL) – is pleased to confirm the finalisation of the Faster Payment System (FPS) rule clarification. This follows a comprehensive consultation process.
This clarification has now been incorporated into the FPS Rulebook. The clarification provides a clearer and more consistent foundation for communicating the outcome of payments between sending and receiving payment service providers (PSPs). In doing so, it strengthens the reliability of A2A journeys and supports emerging use cases, including commercial variable recurring payments (cVRPs).
This development builds on the work outlined in our previous updates on Certainty of Fate, published in November 2025 and January 2026, which explored the challenges affecting CoF and set out the recommendations needed to deliver it across an end‑to‑end A2A journey. You can read these earlier updates here.
Pay.UK has engaged extensively with FPS direct participants, indirect PSPs, PISPs, merchants, aggregators, trade associations and technical service providers throughout the course of this work. Feedback from this broad engagement has informed the final text of the rule clarification, ensuring it achieves its intended purpose without introducing unnecessary or disproportionate technical change.
Our newly published summary paper provides a full overview of the journey to finalisation. It outlines the options assessed, the themes raised through industry discussion, how the clarification will be implemented and assured, and how Pay.UK, in partnership with OBL, will measure real‑world impact. The final wording of the clarification is included in full within the annex.
The paper is available here: Pay.UK’s work on CoF to support A2A retail transactions – March 2026
The FPS rule clarification forms one part of the wider solution required to deliver full Certainty of Fate across an A2A retail journey. While this clarification sits within Pay.UK’s remit, further progress will continue to be taken forward collaboratively with OBL, regulators and industry stakeholders to support a complete, end‑to‑end CoF solution.
Reflecting on this progress, Pay.UK’s Chief Policy and Engagement Officer, Justin Jacobs said: “The continued growth in account-to-account ‘pay by bank’ payments offers consumers and businesses more choice in how they make and receive payments and can help drive economic growth. To facilitate this, Pay.UK is today clarifying its rules to further strengthen the clarity and reliability of A2A journeys within our core domain and thereby contributing a key building block for wider progress across the ecosystem.”
Pay.UK remains confident that this clarification delivers a robust, pragmatic and well‑supported step forward. It meets stakeholder expectations, is deliverable within the existing FPS framework, and provides a strong foundation for future improvements across the A2A landscape.
