National Payments Vision 2025: Experts Chart Future of Agile and Inclusive Payment Infrastructure at IFGS

At the 2025 Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS), a distinguished panel of financial and policy leaders convened to chart the course for the UK’s National Payments Vision, according to Finextra. The discussion, titled «The Road Ahead for an Agile, Future-Ready Payments Ecosystem», explored how to build a robust, innovative, and secure infrastructure for the future of payments in the UK.

Moderated by Kunal Jhanji, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, the panel included:

• Dan Moore, Head of Strategy, Analysis and Engagement, PSR
• Faith Reynolds, Director, Devon Fields Consulting
• Andy Sacre, Head of Payments, Monzo
• Iana Vidal, Head of UK Public Policy, Block
• Paul Worthington, Head of UK Public Policy and Government Relations, Stripe

Jhanji set the tone by posing a critical question: How can the National Payments Vision be translated into tangible outcomes for the UK market?

Infrastructure, Innovation, and Urgency

Dan Moore emphasized the necessity of structured progress and cross-sector collaboration: “One of the benefits of the national payments vision is it sets out sub-deliverables by timescales, and we really have to focus on infrastructure at the end of this quarter, a vision for retail bank infrastructure, and enhanced collaboration between the regulators.”

Andy Sacre from Monzo challenged the assumption that innovation is hampered by outdated infrastructure: “I make a plea to the industry to say look, we’re not blocked by infrastructure renewal. If we want to innovate, let’s get together and do it. We don’t need big regulatory and legislative change to make innovation happen on the rails that we’ve currently got.”

Interoperability and Opportunity

Iana Vidal pointed to the growing role of diverse payment options, particularly stablecoins, and the importance of integrating these into a scalable and interoperable framework: “We talk about the faster payments service, about banks, and about stablecoins as the biggest growing thing in the community today. How can we bring this together and make it as interoperable and optimal as possible? That’s what gives our business the comfort; that there’s a huge amount of opportunity here.”

Paul Worthington echoed this need for a clear path forward: “These next few months are critical to understand what the roadmap is going to look like, to ensure we’re not sat here in two years time talking about the National Payments Vision part two.”

Faith Reynolds brought focus to a crucial aspect often overshadowed by technical ambition: inclusion. “How are we going to make these digital payments attractive and improve digital and financial inclusion in the UK? I think our strategy must look at how it’s going to deal with cash, and how it’s going to deal with people who haven’t previously wanted to be included within the system, and that goes to the counterpoints around trust and security.”

On the issue of harmonizing traditional and emerging forms of money—including stablecoins and a potential digital pound—Jhanji asked how these can coexist within a unified vision. Vidal responded by stressing the necessity of regulatory clarity: “It’s key for customers, however they’re making the payment, through whatever sort of mode, to have the ability to do it and do it safely and responsibly.”

Looking Forward: What Excites the Experts

To wrap up, panelists reflected on the most exciting aspects of the National Payments Vision:

• Worthington spotlighted the imminent deliverables tied to retail infrastructure and public sector frameworks.
• Reynolds emphasized the transformative potential of digital identities and wallets.
• Sacre expressed optimism about the increased focus on system resilience.
• Vidal called the vision «ambitious» and said it has the power to «catalyse major innovation.»
• Moore concluded by underlining the scale of opportunity: “There’s a huge opportunity for competition and innovation, but we must get the infrastructure right to support account-to-account and open banking initiatives.”

As IFGS 2025 made clear, the UK is at a pivotal point. With strategic foresight, collaboration, and inclusive innovation, the National Payments Vision can transform the nation’s financial ecosystem into a world-leading, agile powerhouse.