And parallel migration by both the Bank and the NPSO will encourage widespread adoption of ISO 20022, a precondition for unlocking these benefits. We encourage stakeholders to take this opportunity to feed into the process and help shape the future of payments in the UK. So, what has been achieved? The consolidation and transition of Bacs and the Faster Payments Service (FPS) to the NPSO has been st  delivered. On the 1 of May of this year, the NPSO formally took over responsibility for the operation of these 1  See: The Bank of England’s supervision of financial market infrastructures – Annual Report 2018. Which manages the paper processing system for cheques and the recently launched Image Clearing System. 3 See: public statement on the commencement of the Bank’s direct delivery of CHAPS. 4 See: ISO 20022 consultation paper: a global standard to modernise UK payments. 2  3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  two systemically important payment systems and was brought within the supervisory remit of the Bank. It has been operational for almost two months now, and, with the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company to be integrated shortly, another key milestone on this journey will soon be achieved. Between these retail payment systems, the NPSO will be responsible for the processing of £ trillion payments each year, almost two and half times the UK’s GDP. I think we would all agree that its continued resilience and smooth functioning is a matter of primary concern.
In line with this, today I would like to share how we at the Bank of England are looking to the future to ensure our systemically important payment systems are robust and resilient, their underlying infrastructure is best in class, and our regulatory toolkit remains fit for purpose and future-proof. NPSO: A mandate to be greater than the sum of its parts Payment systems, by their very nature, bring together participants that would otherwise transact bilaterally. Crucially, by doing so, they promote increased efficiency and resiliency that is enjoyed by all. They manage  2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  2  risks, eliminate intermediate arrangements and related costs at the back-end of the payments value chain, and provide functionality that enables innovation to proliferate at the front-end. As described in our Annual 1  Report this year , financial market infrastructure, including payment systems, exist to reduce the risks and costs involved when participants make payments. And this leads me to the NPSO and its creation. The PSF, established by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in March 2015, proposed the consolidation of the UK retail interbank payment system operators: Bacs 2  and Faster Payments, as well as the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company . The Bank was engaged closely with the work of the Forum and was supportive of this change as we could see the potential for the consolidated scheme to be greater than the sum of its constituent parts.