UK/EU regulatory developments in payments, crypto-assets and buy-now-pay-later agreements

This article examines key recent developments in payment services regulation in the UK and EU. In addition to proposals to reform traditional payment services legislation, it also considers proposals to regulate crypto-assets when used as a means of payment and proposals to regulate buy-now-paylater agreements, as these are increasingly offered by merchants as a means of payment. Both the UK and EU have proposed broader regulation of crypto-assets, but this article considers only those aspects of the proposals with the greatest relevance to payment services.