The Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator have published a joint Call for Information on big tech and digital wallets. The paper confirms where existing regulatory boundaries lie and invites further feedback on the development of the market. The regulators see recent trends as presenting both risks and opportunities, particularly in terms of promoting competition and innovation. The findings are likely to help shape the regulatory agenda in the UK and beyond. Stakeholders have until 13 September 2024 to respond.

Call for Information 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) have published a joint Call for Information on big tech and digital wallets, having observed a marked increase in the use of digital wallets in recent years. This builds on recent work on the entry of big tech into financial services and the data asymmetry benefitting big tech in financial services. 

Their research suggests that the UK surpasses many countries in terms of digital wallet use, but trails behind others such as China.

Types of digital wallet

The Call for Information acknowledges that different digital wallets have different features and thus pose different risks and opportunities.  
 
Takes storage of value, for example. The Call for Information describes Apple Pay and Google Pay as "pass-through" digital wallets. These types of wallet convert user card details into a secure "token" to facilitate mobile payments, without themselves being used to store funds. PayPal, on the other hand, is described as “staged wallet”. These types of wallet can be used to store funds. 
 
Similarly, digital wallets may facilitate payment across different payment rails. The regulators observe that Apple Pay and Google Pay primarily support settlement by relying on card networks, such as those operated by Visa and Mastercard. With PayPal, funds that have been loaded into PayPal wallets can be moved between PayPal accounts through PayPal’s own systems. The process of loading a PayPal wallet, however, relies on other systems such as card networks or direct account-to-account systems. 

Digital wallets may also use alternative types of technology and infrastructure to facilitate in-store payments, such as near-field communication (NFC) chips or QR codes. 

The regulators invite further feedback on the development of the market, different business models and the benefits of using digital wallets. 

Regulatory treatment

Given the range of features, different types of digital wallet naturally attract different regulatory treatment. 

The Call for Information confirms that the FCA does not consider the card-tokenisation activities performed by pass-through digital wallet providers to be a regulated activity. On the other hand, wallets that store monetary value will typically be characterised as e-money accounts, and their providers regulated accordingly. Wallet providers could also potentially be performing other regulated activities (and need to be registered or authorised), such as payment initiation services or account information services, depending on the functionality they offer. 

The PSR has supervisory powers in respect of “participants” (i.e. operators, infrastructure providers and payment service providers) in payment systems that have been designated by the Treasury. The PSR indicates in the Call for Information that digital wallet providers could, in principle, be characterised as participants in already-designated systems, as providers or controllers of infrastructure or payment service providers. This would allow the PSR to exercise supervisory oversight in respect of a digital wallet provider (which may or may not fall within the FCA’s regulatory remit) without any further intervention from the Treasury.

Competition concerns around big tech in payments

Many policymakers have raised concerns that big tech companies in the digital wallet market have an unfair competitive advantage due to the control they exert over mobile ecosystems and devices. As a result of challenges raised by the European Commission, for example, Apple has now made certain legally binding commitments which will allow rival wallet providers in the EEA to access the NFC technology on iOS devices free of charge, among other things.

The FCA and PSR have similar concerns, but are yet to reach any firm conclusions. Evidence cited in the Call for Information shows that the UK market is dominated by Apple Pay and (to a lesser extent) Google Pay and PayPal, and that there may be certain barriers to entry and expansion for other players. The regulators are inviting feedback on a number of issues that may influence their regulatory approach. 

These findings may also be relayed to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which also has an interest in this topic (having examined mobile ecosystems for many years). The CMA has been granted new responsibilities to promote competition in digital markets and impose rules on digital platforms. The FCA and PSR will liaise closely with the CMA as these rules take shape. 

Promotion of account-to-account model 

One of the PSR's strategic objectives is to promote greater competition between payment systems. As part of this, it has been considering how account-to-account payment systems (such as the UK’s Faster Payments System) can become an effective alternative to card networks in the retail sector, in store and online. Various reasons have been cited for low adoption of the account-to-account model, including shortcomings around functionality, access, funding, dispute processes and consumer protection. 

The PSR is now considering whether increasing use of digital wallets could support the adoption of account-to-account payment systems, if those wallets were to integrate such payment rails into their offering. While there has not been much of this type of integration in the UK, there has been in other countries, such as India and China. 

Among other things, the PSR is keen to understand whether such integration would promote competition and whether there are disincentives for digital wallet providers to facilitate such integration. These could include financial disincentives (if, for example, supporting the account-to-account model is less lucrative for wallet providers) or regulatory disincentives (if, for example, wallet providers consider that they would themselves need to become regulated payment initiation service providers to support this model). They are also interested in potential challenges, including security vulnerabilities under this model that could potentially be exploited. 

Next steps

The nature of the Call for Information suggests that the FCA and PSR are still in the early stages of developing their thinking on these matters. This may present a valuable opportunity to influence the direction of travel. 

The deadline for feedback is 13 September 2024, and the regulators plan to publish an update by Q1 2025.