Hannah Nixon, Payment Systems Regulator managing director, aims to change the way financial infrastructure is being controlled and utilized.

The review is designed to level the playing field for small businesses and local banks, giving such establishments better access to robust systems.

“We want to break open the control of payment systems, so it’s not just the big banks that control them who can use them. We need to make sure all those who use them or need access can have a real voice in the way these things are controlled — whether it’s a challenger bank, or a payment innovator,” said Nixon.

At the moment, large institutions such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC control essential facilities that are used for money transfer, trade and other basic services. As a result, companies and up-and-coming organizations are pinned with expensive set-up costs to use the systems for their services.

In Nixon’s two-part review, the latter addresses this issue directly. With unrestricted access to infrastructure, challenger banks would not need to go through the big High Street banks for simple check clearances or electronic transactions.

To promote collaboration within the space, Nixon will also open the first Payments Strategy Forum, where leaders in the industry can get together and create long-term plans to ensure the thorough delivery of the proposed changes.

The forum moderators will be pushing for transparency to verify that the systems currently in place support innovation and are not prone to conflicts of interest.

“True, long lasting change will be difficult, but we have the powers and the people to make it happen. Our challenge now – the challenge we share with industry – is to work together to deliver it,” highlighted the new head payments regulator.