A central operator will be established to coordinate open banking recurring payments, which is “critical” to the growth of the system, say regulators.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Services Regulator argue this is a key move for open banking, which they call “a UK success story,” that has over 11.7 million active users who make 22.1 million payments a month.

They add that in line with the government’s growth agenda, “continued success in this area is critical for the UK”.

The regulators say that standards body Open Banking Limited will now “play a key role in establishing an independent central operator to coordinate how variable recurring payments are made”.

“We support it in doing that, working with industry and trade associations, and look forward to significant progress being made in 2025.”

They say this will see live services available for consumers to make recurring payments to utility companies, the government and financial services firms.

They add: “In addition, we are working with industry and trade associations to progress the development of the commercial arrangements underpinning both variable recurring payments and use of open banking for e-commerce.”

The City watchdog adds that this move is in line with chief executive Nikhil Rathi’s letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer “to support the growth mission” of the government earlier this month.

Rathi added that the country “needs a UK financial services digital infrastructure plan to dovetail” with the government’s “ambitious AI plan”.

Open banking was introduced in 2018 and allows consumers to share their data with third parties to speed up payments and financial services applications.