11 Facts About Payments Council

Payments Council was an organisation of financial institutions in the United Kingdom, which set strategy for UK payment mechanisms from 2007 until 2015.

One of the tasks of the Payments Council was to implement the Faster Payments Service, taking clearing times in the UK from among the slowest to among the fastest in the world.

Payments Council clashed with the Government in 2011 over plans to abolish cheques.

Payments Council went on to implement the mobile payment system Paym and the Current Account Switch Service .

On 29 June 2015, the Payments Council was then relaunched as the trade association Payments UK.

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Payments Council was a voluntary membership organisation, with a mix of full and associate members.

On behalf of the UK payments industry as a whole, the Payments Council operated contracts with service providers such as BACS, CHAPS, Faster Payments, Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited and the LINK ATM Scheme.

Payments Council advised a Treasury Select Committee inquiry in February 2010 that cheques were in "terminal decline", down to 3.

The inquiry will consider the structure and performance of the Payments Council, including whether it is sufficiently accountable for the impact of its decisions on consumers.

On 12 July 2011 the Payments Council announced it had cancelled the 2018 target date to close cheque clearing and that cheques will remain as long as customers need them.

Payments Council was able to take decisions affecting millions of people at its own initiative without any effective scrutiny by a regulatory body.