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Modulr glossary

Payment Systems Regulator (PSR)

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is the UK’s economic regulator for payment systems. It promotes competition, innovation, and service quality. It oversees payment infrastructure like Bacs, FPS and LINK. Regulatory consolidation proposals have been discussed, but no formal merger into the FCA has been implemented as of 2025.

Applications

E-commerce:

Reduces fraud in online card payments by verifying the cardholder's identity

Banking and fintech:

Helps issuers and payment providers comply with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements.

Advantages

  • Enhanced security: Reduces unauthorised transactions by verifying that the genuine account holder is authorising the payment
  • Fraud prevention: Helps reduce chargebacks related to fraud.

Challenges

  • User Experience: Additional authentication steps can cause friction and increase checkout abandonment
  • Implementation complexity: Requires integration with card schemes and issuer systems.

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