UK to give the Bank of England a secondary objective on payments innovation

HM Treasury will legislate to make supporting innovation in payment systems and digital money a formal, secondary duty of the Bank of England. Financial stability stays the primary objective. What changed The Treasury announced it will amend the Financial Services and Markets Bill so that the Bank of England carries a secondary innovation objective when it regulates systemic payment systems, including systems that settle in digital settlement assets such as stablecoins. The Bank already holds an equivalent secondary innovation objective for central counterparties and central securities depositories under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023; this reform extends the same approach to payment infrastructure. The objective sits below the Bank's primary financial stability duty and does not oblige the Bank to support innovation where that would undermine stability. The Bank will report to Parliament each year on how it has advanced the objective. The government expects the amendments to be taken up when the Bill is next debated in the House of Lords on 7 and 9 September 2026.