How it works
Payments are submitted by a sending bank, routed through the central infrastructure and confirmed to both parties in near real time, with funds available to spend immediately.
Resources
Faster Payment System
Faster Payments moves money between UK bank accounts in seconds, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It's the rail behind mobile banking transfers, Open Banking payments and a growing share of business settlement.
<15s
Average payment time
4.5bn
Payments in 2025
24/7/365
Availability
Who uses it
Banks, building societies, payment service providers and fintechs connect directly or via an aggregator to offer instant payments to consumers and businesses.
Limits and security
Per-payment limits are set by each participating institution, supported by industry-wide fraud controls including Confirmation of Payee.
The road ahead
Faster Payments is being modernised under the New Payments Architecture programme to support richer data, stronger fraud prevention and new payment types.