HM Treasury announced plans to give the Bank of England a secondary objective to support innovation in systemic payment systems and emerging forms of digital money. The objective will cover systems using digital settlement assets, including stablecoins, but will remain subordinate to the Bank’s primary financial stability objective. The reform will extend the innovation objective that already applies to the Bank’s regulation of central counterparties and central securities depositories. The Bank will report annually to Parliament on its progress in advancing payments innovation. The government expects to implement the change through amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which is scheduled for further debate in the House of Lords on Sept. 7 and 9.
2026-08-27HM Treasury
HM Treasury plans secondary Bank of England innovation objective for systemic payment systems and digital settlement assets
HM Treasury plans to give the Bank of England a secondary objective to support innovation in systemic payment systems, including those using stablecoins and other digital settlement assets. Financial stability will remain the Bank’s primary objective, and it will report annually to Parliament on its progress.