UK Payments Leaders Back National Payments Vision in Principle, but Delivery Doubts Run Deep, CI&T Research Finds
UK Payments Leaders Back National Payments Vision in Principle, but Delivery Doubts Run Deep, CI&T Research Finds #
A new industry survey has found that the UK payments sector broadly supports the government’s National Payments Vision, but a significant confidence gap exists between backing the initiative in principle and believing its delivery will succeed.
Research published on 10 September 2026 by CI&T, an AI and technology acceleration firm, surveyed 350 payments leaders across the UK. The report, titled “From Vision to Delivery: The Choices That Will Define UK Payments Reform,” found that 82% of respondents back the government’s plan to overhaul the country’s payment systems, but only 29% described themselves as “very confident” in how it will be executed.
The confidence gap is even sharper around communication: 349 of the 350 payments leaders surveyed said they anticipate communication problems with the reform programme. The most widely cited concern was the delivery roadmap and its milestones, flagged by 33% of respondents. A further 30% worried about how the programme aligns with other regulatory requirements, while the same proportion pointed to testing, migration, and readiness demands as a significant challenge.
Confidence levels vary markedly by seniority. Among those in executive and strategic leadership roles, 95% expressed confidence that the vision would be delivered, and that group unanimously agreed that clear governance is critical to success. By contrast, respondents in more operational positions appear substantially less assured.
On infrastructure design, 85% of those surveyed said they want next-generation payments infrastructure to be built around and compatible with existing systems rather than replacing them wholesale, a figure that climbs to 98% among senior executives. No single modernisation approach has emerged as the clear favourite: full replacement of selected components leads at 30%, with parallel running, modernised data standards, and targeted improvements all close behind.
The findings arrive as the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board, chaired by the Bank of England, closes a formal consultation on the design of the UK’s next-generation payments infrastructure, with a deadline of 11 September 2026. While that consultation addresses what should be built, CI&T’s research focused on how payments leaders expect the programme to be managed.
Young Pham, CI&T’s Global Head of Financial Services AI, said the survey highlights where the industry wants clearer answers: milestones, defined responsibilities, readiness requirements, and a credible transition path from today’s infrastructure to the target state.
The National Payments Vision was first published by HM Treasury in November 2024, in response to the Garner Review of 2023, with the aim of delivering a more competitive, secure, and technologically modern payments ecosystem for UK consumers and businesses.
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