On 15 July 2026, HM Treasury (HMT) published a consultation paper in relation to the Recognised Payment Systems and Digital Settlement Asset Service Providers fee regime.
Background
The Bank of England (BoE) currently charges fees to operators of recognised payment systems and specified service providers in relation to those systems. Those fees must relate to a scale of fees approved by HMT by regulations which is referred to as the ‘fee regime’ for the purposes of this consultation.
Summary
This consultation sets out the government’s intentions for the future fees framework for operators of recognised payment systems, recognised digital settlement asset (DSA) service providers, and service providers in relation to such systems or such DSA service providers, in particular HMT is consulting on the following:
- Updating the fee regime scope: While Part 5 of the Banking Act 2009 was amended to include DSA service providers as being subject to BoE supervision, updating the fee regime that allows the BoE to recoup the costs of its supervision requires a statutory instrument to be made. This will allow the BoE to be prepared to recoup the costs of activity in relation to DSA service providers (and service providers in relation to them) at the point at which one is recognised by HMT.
- Raising the cap on supervisory fees: The BoE charges an annual supervisory fee in relation to those systems within its remit, in order to cover its costs of supervision. The government proposes to raise the fee cap to £1.7m per in-scope system, DSA Service Provider or their service providers in any one year.
- Raising the cap on Special Project Fees: The government proposes to increase the Special Project Fee cap to £650,000 in any one-year period to account for inflationary cost increases during the period since the introduction of the fee, and to account for future inflation.
Next steps
HMT has asked for feedback on the consultation by 31 August 2026.
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