On 14 July 2026 HM Treasury published Modernising Payment Services Regulation, a consultation that proposes rebuilding the two statutes every UK payments and e-money firm is authorised under, the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Responses close at 11:59pm on 6 October 2026. If you hold or are preparing a UK EMI licence application, this is the clearest signal yet of what that authorisation will look like by the end of the decade.
Our reading: carry on, but plan for convergence. The FCA keeps authorising e-money and payment institutions under the current regulations, and nothing in the consultation pauses live applications. The direction of travel, though, is a single regulated-activities framework spanning fiat money, tokenised deposits and UK-issued qualifying stablecoins, with technical requirements moved out of legislation and into the FCA rulebook. A business case built on the specific contours of today's EMI category, rather than on payments capability in general, deserves a stress test now.
What HM Treasury is consulting on
The paper, part of the July 2026 Mansion House package, seeks views on how payment services regulation should adapt to support innovation while keeping strong consumer protections (gov.uk, 14 July 2026). It puts the structure of the regime itself on the table: whether the technical detail of the PSRs and EMRs should move into FCA rules, and whether a single framework should cover money in all its regulated forms, including tokenised deposits and qualifying stablecoins.
Will the UK merge EMI and payment institution licences?
That is the question applicants keep asking, and the consultation invites views on it, echoing the EU's PSD3 proposal to fold e-money issuance into a single payments authorisation. On the EU side the timing has slipped again: as of 30 July 2026 the PSD3/PSR package has still not appeared in the Official Journal, and the European Parliament's procedure file shows it awaiting the Council's first-reading position, with an indicative plenary date of 14 December 2026. A UK reform consulted on now could land on a comparable timetable to the EU's, which weakens the old assumption that London simply follows Brussels on payments rules.
Stablecoins sit inside the same rebuild
HM Treasury signalled in April 2026 that UK-issued qualifying stablecoins would be carved out of the new cryptoasset dealing and arranging activities through a proposed amending statutory instrument, precisely so they can be regulated inside the modernised payments regime instead. That instrument remained a proposal as of the policy note's 20 July 2026 update. The UK cryptoasset regime is running on its own clock, with regulated activities taking effect on 25 October 2027, so the payments rebuild and the crypto build-out are now moving side by side.
What UK EMI licence holders and applicants should do now
Respond by 6 October 2026 if the shape of the future regime matters to your model; consultation responses are the cheap way to influence perimeter questions. Firms mid-application should proceed on current rules. And if you are weighing the UK against EU options, capital, safeguarding and timeline differences are exactly what the live e-money comparison and the United Kingdom EMI page track, with every entry dated and sourced. Regime changes like this one appear on the changes log as they land.
Sources
- HM Treasury, Modernising Payment Services Regulation consultation (14 July 2026)
- HM Treasury policy note on the proposed stablecoin statutory instrument (21 April 2026, updated 20 July 2026)
- European Parliament Legislative Observatory, PSD3/PSR procedure file 2023/0209(COD)
This content is informational only and is not legal advice.