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TCS in running to take over UK's Faster Payments - Sky News

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has emerged as a leading contender to take over the running of the UK's Faster Payments Service, according to Sky News.

TCS has "edged ahead" of current operator, Mastercard-owned Vocalink, says Sky, citing people close to the competitive procurement process.

Pay.UK is running the process as part of the UK's New Payments Architecture, which will replace the current Faster Payments and Bacs retail interbank payment system, with clearing and settlement taking place over a single purpose-built central infrastructure.

Says Pay.UK in a statement: "We have carefully examined prospective vendors and considered all relevant data, competition and regulatory requirements. We are now going through the necessary regulatory non-objection and assurance process. We will not comment further while the process is ongoing."

The process will also need to be reviewed by the Payment Systems Regulator and the Bank of England. However, it is currently paused while the government carries out its recently announced Visions for Payments strategy.

Learn more about payments at NextGen Nordics on the 23 April 2024.

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Editorial | what does this mean?

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Comments: (4)

Hitesh Thakkar - SME - Fintech startups (APAC and Africa) - India 06 February, 2024, 15:09

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isn't this backdoor information about procurement being shared in public?

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A Finextra member 07 February, 2024, 12:41

1 like The government should have blocked the original sale of VocaLink to a US company in the first place. A critical part of the national infrastructure should never be allowed to be run by an overseas company.

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Hitesh Thakkar - SME - Fintech startups (APAC and Africa) - India 07 February, 2024, 13:23

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Agree with your observation but then again such big contract is favoured by govt to bidder ( Even though it’s Indian reputed IT company TCS) with out completing evaluation process and press release - Editor of Finextra must not post it. There has to be editorial review and revoke should happen as otherwise it looks like Finextra is spreading rumours.

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Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 07 February, 2024, 14:21

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Strongly disagree.

By its charter, media can publish any information of any public entity, and the definition of public and information are very wide in this context. This right is protected by First Amendment of the Constitution in USA and similar provisions in other democracies. Not legal advice but "public" extends to private limited companies and even individuals who are celebrities and "information" extends to rumors and even MNPI based on what media self-defines as "reliable sources". It works on the credo "the public has a right to know". I don't know why lawmakers felt that the public has a right to know the affairs of private limited companies and celebrities but that's not the media's problem.

There are zillion examples where media has used its right. (1) USA: The Information's reporting on the behind-the-scenes happenings in Open AI, a non publicly traded company, in the hours after the firing of its CEO Sam Altman (2) India: Reporting of financial results of Byju's, a private limtied company (3) Paparazzi photographs of celebrities inside their house.

This is one of the major differences between media and other industries. To be sure, in return for this privilege, media is liable to be fined and punished in other ways if its reporting contains material defects.

PS: None of this is legal advice.