Upgrading payments infrastructure could boost UK GDP by $3.8bn by 2026
Summary
Upgrading the UK’s ageing payments infrastructure and increasing real-time payments adoption will boost the UK economy by $3.8 billion by 2026. That’s according to a study from ACI Worldwide, Global Data, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
The UK led the world when it introduced its Faster Payments service more than a decade ago, but now lags behind the likes of India and Brazil, ACI Worldwide notes.
The New Payments Architecture programme, led by Pay.UK, will bring sweeping changes to the country's payments infrastructure over the next five years, delivering real time account-to-account payments.
The CEBR believes the ‘untapped potential’ of real-time payments in the UK is enormous. If all payments were real-time, it could potentially boost the economy by as much as $98bn in 2026, or 2.7% annually.
Based on projected 2026 real-time adoption rates (rising to 12.3% of all payments), real-time payments will unlock $3.8bn of additional economic output, equivalent to around 0.11% of formal GDP. This is considerably less than in India and Brazil, which are forecast to add $45.9bn (1.12%) and $37.6bn (2.08%) of additional GDP respectively by 2026, facilitated by strong real-time payments growth.
ACI Worldwide head of real-time payments Craig Ramsey says ‘If the UK is to capitalise fully on the potential economic benefits of real-time payments over the coming years, it must address the urgent need to modernise its ageing payments infrastructure and embrace the New Payments Architecture with open arms. The onus is on government and industry to work together to increase adoption. Otherwise, despite the head start provided by the Faster Payments system, the UK risks falling further behind the rest of the world.’