Global: UK Banks Applaud Regulated Liability Network (RLN) Experiments

The UK’s Regulated Liability Network (RLN) is being hailed as a groundbreaking platform designed to foster innovation across various forms of money, including traditional commercial bank deposits and tokenized versions of these deposits on a shared ledger. Seen as a unifying platform, the RLN aims to streamline financial operations and drive technological progress within the banking sector.

A consortium of major financial institutions, including Barclays, Citi, HSBC, Lloyds, Mastercard, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, Standard Chartered, Virgin Money, and Visa, participated in the RLN’s experimentation phase over the summer. These trials explored several use cases and identified potential benefits, such as reducing fraud, enhancing the efficiency of the home-buying process, and cutting the costs associated with failed payments in the UK.

UK Finance, the body representing the financial services sector, noted that the RLN, when combined with existing frameworks like Open Banking, could unlock significant economic value and drive innovation across the market. Additionally, the RLN could serve as a crucial entry point for new fintech firms, enabling them to collaborate with established institutions and access advanced payment and settlement systems.

The participants also concluded that the UK’s current legal and regulatory environment is flexible enough to support the rollout of this “platform for innovation,” allowing it to align with both public and private sector goals while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Peter Left, Head of Digital and Markets Innovation at Lloyds and co-chair of the RLN project, emphasized the collaborative nature of the initiative, stating, “By working in partnership, we’ve demonstrated how this platform can advance developments in money and payments, while aligning with public and private sector objectives and delivering long-term benefits for both customers and the industry.”

The RLN is expected to play a pivotal role in the evolution of the UK’s financial infrastructure, potentially revolutionizing the way banks handle money and payments while supporting the growth of innovative fintech solutions.