12 Feb 2026
For a decade, payments competed on frictionless flow. Regulators are now competing on evidence. From safeguarding reform to AI review and Consumer Duty, the question is no longer “was it smooth?” but “can you prove what happened?” Auditability is becoming infrastructure.
Read further
10 Feb 2026
January saw UK regulators clarify pricing for cVRP, Open Banking Limited mark eight years with 16.5m live connections, the PSR report strong APP-fraud reimbursements, the PRA finalise Basel 3.1 rules, and the Bank of England showcase Digital Pound Lab Phase 1.
Read further
5 Feb 2026
Recent PSR action on card fee transparency is not just about cards. It is a signal to buyers to think harder about governance, accountability and long-term cost when choosing payment rails, including open banking and cVRP.
Read further
29 Jan 2026
The FCA has launched an AI review in retail finance. For payments, the issue is not autonomy but control. Open banking, with native consent and strong customer authentication (SCA), offers a foundation that aligns with emerging regulatory expectations.
Read further
22 Jan 2026
The FCA and PSR have clarified their position on open banking pricing models for commercial VRPs. This post explains what that means for UKPI, infrastructure providers and enterprise buyers making long-term cVRP decisions.
Read further
15 Jan 2026
As the FCA removes fixed contactless limits, card payments rely on ever more compensating controls to manage fraud. Open banking takes a different path: embedding strong customer authentication at the bank layer. This post explains why the difference matters for security, UX and recurring payments.
Read further
13 Jan 2026
December brought concrete delivery signals for commercial VRP in the UK, alongside a major shift on contactless limits and renewed focus on safeguarding and insolvency outcomes for payments firms. Here are the stories that matter, with an Asima infrastructure lens.
Read further
23 Dec 2025
Commercial variable recurring payments promise more control than cards on file and more flexibility than Direct Debit. But cVRP is not “just another payment method”. This post explains what Smart Debits really are, why rollout has taken time, and what Asima clients should evaluate before committing.
Read further
16 Dec 2025
The FCA’s latest “Open banking: a year of progress” confirms that open banking is scaling beyond early use-cases, with over 16 million active users, sharp growth in payments, and commercial VRP schemes poised to enter the market.
Read further
11 Dec 2025
When the North Pole’s fulfilment system collapsed days before Christmas, an exhausted elf found salvation not in magic, but in infrastructure. This is the story of how open sleigh banking saved Christmas.
Read further
4 Dec 2025
November brought the first commercial cVRP transaction via Visa A2A, a major BNPL player announcing its own stablecoin, and the FCA setting out how it plans to regulate cryptoassets and stablecoins. Here is Asima’s take on what matters.
Read further
27 Nov 2025
Latest UK open banking metrics show average response times in the 300 ms range, with availability over 99 %. For infrastructure providers like Asima, these numbers matter — because true scale demands performance, resilience and trust baked into every API.
Read further