Record of payments should include more detailed information, says payments industry body

Payments UK said that "enabling more and better information to be linked to payments" would benefit both public sector organisations and businesses.

"It will make it possible to provide additional reference information with an electronic payment helping businesses better reconcile payments," Payments UK said in a new report (20-page / 2.72MB PDF).

Enhancing payments data is one of four things that need to happen to ensure the UK's payments market remains "world class", Payments UK said.

Making it easier for all payment service providers to access payment systems, helping customers to confirm the correct recipient of payments before payments go through and giving customers greater control over the timing of outgoing patients are the other areas Payments UK said need to be prioritised.

"To deliver all the capabilities or features we have identified, and critically to agree the timing of delivery, it will require the industry’s new and existing players, but also regulators, technology providers, the government and of course customers to move forward together," Payments UK said.

According to a survey of 2,075 UK adults commissioned by Payments UK, a shift to real-time payments would be the one change to payments that consumers would find most useful. Most consumers also said they want to be able to see an up-to-date account balances and for money from cheque deposits to be available to spend sooner. Most consumers also said they would find it useful to be notified that their payment has been received.

More than a third of consumers (39%) also said that it would be useful to have a "single secure way" to identify themselves to their bank or building society so as to enable faster payments, according to the survey.

Payments UK said 33% of the consumers surveyed also said they would find it useful to be able to "open an account with a bank or building society immediately". This would include "completion of all identification checks", the opening of accounts, the receipt of account cards and PIN details and the accounts' readiness for sending and receiving payments, it said.

"Changes in technology, regulation, and consumer preferences mean that the pace of change in the payments sector has never been greater," Tim Yudin, Payments UK’s director of design and delivery, said. "This makes it the perfect time to assess which future developments can deliver the very best outcomes for consumers, businesses and the public sector. Recent innovations such as the Faster Payments Service, the Current Account Switch Service and Paym mean we have a great platform on which to build."