UK banks move fast: 21% to modernise payments in just weeks
Volante Technologies, the global leader in Payments as a Service (PaaS), today released the fifth edition of its annual flagship research report, The Big Survey 2025: Modernising Payments.
The survey of senior-level banking decision makers reveals a unanimous drive for change: 100% of UK banks plan to implement a new payments solution—replacing one or more systems—and almost two-thirds (65%) are planning to do so within six months. In fact, one in five (21%) UK banks are planning to implement a new payments solution within 1–3 weeks of Volante’s survey.
Volante found that UK banks are not only keen to modernise, they are prepared to spend big to future-proof their payments infrastructure. On average, UK banks are planning to allocate a budget of nearly $1.25 million to payments modernisation over the next year.
Other survey highlights from the UK include:
● Cost efficiency and resilience are top motivators. More than a quarter (27%) of UK banks say cost efficiency and operational resilience are the external factors driving modernisation the most, followed by harnessing ISO 20022 data potential, changing customer expectations for real-time payments, and competitive pressure from fintechs and neobanks.
● Vendor selection is a key concern. The biggest concern for UK banks in modernising payments is choosing the right vendors and tech partners (32%), followed by concerns around internal skills and expertise to manage the transition.
● UK banks are still encumbered by legacy systems. Almost one-third of UK banks (31%) rely on legacy technology for their payments services—either relying on core banking to provide payments or using a combination of internally built and / or vendor solutions that are 5-10+ years old.
The survey also revealed that although SEPA Instant Payments is not a core requirement for UK banks, one in seven are currently offering this service, and a further quarter say they are close to doing so. Additionally, UK banks are curious about cloud adoption for payments modernisation but are yet to fully embrace it. More than two in five (43%) UK banks say they are exploring cloud options for modernisation, but remain mainly on-premises.
Volante’s research found that there is some concern among UK banks regarding the process of modernising payments: a quarter of banks are concerned about the disruption modernisation may cause. The report notes “the solution to this worry is to focus on strategic modernisation: progressing towards modernisation with small, carefully measured steps”. It further advises banks that understanding their customers’ priorities is important both in setting out their modernisation roadmap and in building a business case for modernisation and ensuring budgets are tactically spent.
“The fifth edition of The Big Survey shows banks recognise that modernising payments is crucial to survival in the evolving payments landscape. It’s not only market competition and changing customer expectations that are impressing this urgency upon them: 2025 is a pivotal year for regulatory deadlines regarding legislation such as SEPA Instant Payments and SWIFT ISO 20022. UK banks also recognise that payments modernisation is their path to greater profits through increased cost efficiency and operational resilience,” said Vijay Oddiraju, co-founder and chief executive officer.
Oddiraju continued, “The fact that UK banks are preparing to spend, on average, nearly $1.25m on payments modernisation shows that they understand how important it is to adapt to industry shifts. But the size of such modernisation budgets means banks are, understandably, cautious about their selection of vendors and tech partnerships. For banks, the right partners are ones who will help them modernise their payments while lowering risk, improving ROI, and helping them onboard new clients quickly. PaaS providers who can offer banks resilient, compliant, and easily extensible solutions stand to win big as payments enters its next era.”
Download a copy of the survey, ‘The Big Survey 2025: Modernising Payments’, here.