UK government tells payment firms that mutual market access is “plausible” after Brexit; the European Commission speculates on the future of the EU; a European card industry body updates interchange guidance; and Indian regulators and businesses are divided on the long-term future of Bitcoin.

UK Lobbies Say Mutual Access ‘Plausible’ After Brexit

UK payments firms are being told the government could “plausibly” negotiate mutual market access with the EU, following the country’s decision to quit the bloc.

A report from industry trade group Payments UK argues that the political manoeuvres of Prime Minister Theresa May will push for “the greatest amount of mutual market access”.

Citing the alignment of UK and EU laws, the group said that mutual recognition could both build on and go beyond “the existing equivalence regimes and could be embedded in a long-term, stable framework which can only be changed by formal agreement”.

For Payments UK, the main areas of concerns are the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), the Single Europe Payments Area, access to euro payment systems and passporting, which allows trade across the EU through a licence in any member state.

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