United Kingdom: Closed consultation on PSR and FCA inquiry into benefits and risks of growing nexus between large technology companies and digital wallets

On 13 September 2024, the Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) closed the public consultation as part of their inquiry into the benefits and risks of the growing nexus between large technology companies and digital wallets. The PSR and FCA noted that digital wallets constitute 14% of point-of-sale transactions and 38% of e-commerce transactions by value in 2023, with the entry of large technology companies such as Apple and Google contributing to the rapid growth of digital wallets. The consultation is addressed to stakeholders across the financial services landscape, including digital wallet providers and users. Specifically, the consultation seeks to understand how digital wallets influence consumer payment choices, their impact on competition among payment systems, potential consumer protection or market integrity issues and their role in advancing account-to-account payments.