The Bank of London joins BACS, the UK’s bank-to-bank system
The Bank of London, the leading-edge technology company and the world’s first purpose-built global clearing, agency, and transaction bank, today announced it has become a Directly Connected Settling Participant (DCSP) of Bacs, which is owned and operated by Pay.UK, the recognised operator and standards body for the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) retail interbank payment systems.
The Bacs Payment System is mainly used for account-to-account payments, and processes Bacs Direct Credits which is widely used to pay salaries, benefits, dividends, and supplier payments directly into UK bank accounts. It also processes Direct Debits, which automate the collection of regular payments and is the preferred payment method for many UK bill payers.
Bacs allows individual transactions up to £20m in the UK (including Crown Dependencies, The Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey and Gibraltar). More than 150bn transactions have been debited or credited to British bank accounts via Bacs since its inception in 1968 and, in 2021 alone, the payment system facilitated 6.5bn payments, at a value in excess of £5tn.
The UK is a global leader in retail interbank payments, and as the recognised operator and standards body, Pay.UK is also responsible for managing the Faster Payment System, which enables 24/7 instant GBP payments between bank accounts in the UK. In March 2022, The Bank of London joined the Faster Payment System as DCSP.
Felipe Hillard, chief customer & product officer, UK of The Bank of London, said: “The Bank of London is one of only 31 participants of Bacs for the whole of the UK, and one of only a handful of DCSP’s. Joining allows us to provide a world class experience to our clients and deliver new value, by stepping forwards and opening-up access to a broader financial ecosystem as we integrate in the next few months with other rails, including CHAPS, SEPA and many others.”
David Piper, Pay.UK’s head of service lines, said: “As we approach the end of 2022, we’re pleased to welcome another direct Bacs customer, in The Bank of London. Increasing participation in our payment systems can only be positive for end-users, and all those who stand to benefit from greater choice in the way they pay and are paid.”