Team Blitz India
Indian multinational IT services and technology company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is leading contender to take over the administration of the Faster Payments Service (FPS) in the United Kingdom.
FPS is considered a crucial part of the island nation’s economic infrastructure, being responsible for processing more than 90 per cent of salaries, over 70 per cent of household bills, and almost all state benefit payments.
The procurement process, which has taken place amid rapid developments in global payments technology, is shrouded in secrecy, said a Sky News report.
A formal decision has yet to be made by regulators, although several people close to the process said they understood that TCS had edged ahead of the incumbent Vocalink, which is owned by Mastercard, added the report.
Govt strategy awaited
In a statement issued to Sky News, the Payment Systems Regulator said: “A competitive procurement process to deliver investments to the UK’s payments infrastructure was run by the operator, Pay.UK.
“As the regulator of the UK’s payment systems, we work with the Bank of England to review any proposals. “However, the process is currently paused while we await the Government’s recently announced Vision for Payments, which we expect later this year.”
A recent report on the website of Indian news television channel Republic also said that the decision on the Faster Payments Service operator is on hold until the Government releases its revised sector strategy, Vision for Payments.
The Payment Systems Regulator and the Bank of England are reviewing the proposals, and the process is currently paused, it reported.
Purpose-driven solutions
The Republic report also added, “A previous Government review noted gaps in consumer protection and the need for a more seamless experience in the faster payments system.”
The TCS website says that the company “partners with the biggest brands in their growth and digital transformation journeys, including several of the FTSE100. TCS has been providing purpose-driven solutions in the UK since 1975. We partner with our clients to innovate for growth, leveraging our ecosystem of partners from across academia, Government institutions, start-ups, technology providers and hyperscalers”.
On January 30, TCS announced a 15-year expansion of its partnership with Aviva, the UK’s leading insurance, wealth and retirement provider. As part of this, the end-to-end policy administration and servicing will expand to cover over 5.5 million policies, to be managed by Diligenta, TCS’ FCA regulated subsidiary in the UK, on behalf of Aviva.
Incidentally some reports connected Tata Steel – which is currently upgrading its steel plant in Port Talbot in keeping with environment norms and had to cut jobs – with TCS when the two are connected only by virtue of having a common shareholder in Tata Group
