The United Kingdom’s Faster Payment System (FPS) has revolutionized the way real-time payments are processed, enabling individuals and businesses to transfer funds within seconds, 24/7. Pismo's flexible endpoints empower clients to seamlessly connect with FPS providers who participate in the processing and settlement of domestic UK transactions.

This guide documents Pismo services for FPS integration in the UK, their architectural approach, its major transaction flows, and the end-to-end process for connecting to FPS using Pismo’s next-generation platform.

FPS in the UK

FPS is a UK banking initiative, introduced in 2008, designed to reduce payment times between different banks' customer accounts from three working days to a few seconds. Pay.UK owns and operates FPS and makes it accessible to banks and authorized payment providers known as Direct and Indirect participants. Direct participants connect straight to the central infrastructure, handling their own settlement with the Bank of England, while Indirect participants lack direct links, instead using a sponsoring Direct participant (a bank or large PSP) to send/receive payments and settle funds, making it a cost-effective way to access the network without full infrastructure investment.

The FPS service supports various payment types, including single immediate payments, forward-dated payments, and standing orders.

Key features:

• Near-instant settlement and clearing of payments
• 24/7/365 availability
• Robust security and anti-fraud measures
• Supports both retail and business payments

Pismo and FPS Integration

Pismo provides powerful, reliable endpoints that simplify FPS connectivity.

Pismo's integration supports both direct and indirect access models, enabling clients to connect with a variety of FPS providers depending on their regulatory status and business requirements.

Major transaction flows:

• Provider connectivity
• Account creation
• FPS outbound transactions
• FPS inbound transactions
• FPS returns
• FPS reversals
• FPS return reversals
• FPS events

The following sections walk through each of these flows, highlighting the technical and operational considerations involved.

Provider connectivity

The initial key step is to establish a secure and resilient connection with FPS providers.

Pismo's role::

• Enables clients to authenticate with their chosen provider using industry-standard protocols (such as mTLS (mutual TLS).
• Ensures that all due diligence, compliance checks, and contractual arrangements are in place before establishing connectivity.
• Supports providers' multiple API versions.
• Manages provider configuration and credentials.
• Provides end-to-end data encryption.

Account creation

Before participating in FPS transactions, you need to create Pismo accounts and register them with your provider.

1. Create account with Pismo. This generates an Account created event
2. Call Pismo’s Register UK bank account using UK account number and sort code to update relevant account details. This validates bank account details and ensures FPS scheme eligibility.

Pismo registers the account with the provider and receives activation confirmation. A Bank account registered event is generated after Pismo receives the provider's webhook notification.

FPS outbound transactions

Outbound transactions involve sending funds from a client’s account to a FPS network recipient.

Pismo's role:

• Enables clients to initiatie new FPS payments with all mandatory fields (amount, currency, beneficiary details, reference, etc.) via Pismo's FPS out-transfer endpoint
• Submits payment instructions to the chosen provider, with synchronous or asynchronous confirmation.
• Retrieves transaction status updates, including payment tracking.
• Receives provider webhook notifications and notifies clients of transaction status via the FPS out payment transaction event generated event

Key points:

• Payment limits—Limit maintenance must be configured at the client’s end based on scheme-defined limits.
• Idempotency—Preventing duplicate submissions through robust idempotency tokens

{  
  "creditor_account": {  
    "identification": "AA00AAA000000000000000",  
    "name": "Pam Demic",  
    "scheme_name": "iban"  
  },  
  "end_to_end_id": "1374f841568e4ff4b3a63b023c1870ec",  
  "instructed_amount": {  
    "amount": 10.5,  
    "currency": "GBP"  
  },  
  "remittance_information": {  
    "reference": "Reference information"  
  },  
  "originated_overseas": {  
    "ultimate_debtor": {  
      "address": "501 Congress Avenue, Suite 150 Austin, TX 78701",  
      "name": "Luke Wharm"  
    },  
    "ultimate_debtor_account": {  
      "account_number": "123456",  
      "identification": "BOFAUS3N",  
      "scheme_name": "BIC"  
    }  
  }  

FPS inbound transactions

Inbound transactions occur when a client receives funds from another FPS participant.

Pismo’s role:

• Account mapping—Ensures correct allocation of inbound funds to the appropriate client account
• Real-time notifications—Instant notifications and notify events keeping clients up-to-date.
• Suspense transactions—For handling Suspense transactions, Pismo provide clients with an endpoint, allowing them to make decisions on held transactions based on their anti-fraud provider’s recommendations or analysis.

Key points:

• Any Incoming transaction from the provider to Pismo is always settled at the payment scheme.
• If approved, Pismo clears the transaction and the beneficiary can access funds. Otherwise, Pismo creates a return transaction that references the original transaction for traceability.

FPS returns

A payment return is used when a credited party returns a previus payment's funds back to the debited party.

Pismo's role:

• Supports outbound and inbound transaction return requests
• Tracks the return lifecycle, from initiation to resolution
• Handles provider-specific return codes and required documentation seamlessly
• Generates FPS outbound payment return processed event
• Generates FPS inbound payment return processed event
• Generates FPS inbound payment return processed event.
  This happens when Pismo receives a FPS -in transfer and fails to credit the amount due to any reason. In this case, Pismo submits the return to the Provider and generates this event. 
• Ensures return requests are raised within FPS-mandated timeframes
• Provides clear, auditable trails for all return actions

FPS reversals

A payment reversal occurs when a payment has been cancelled.

Pismo’s role:

• Supports client or provider-initiated reversal requests.
• Automates the workflow for capturing reversal justifications and required evidence.
• Integrates with external case management systems for dispute resolution.
• Generates the FPS inbound payment reversal processed event.

Return reversals

This use case is not in scope for Direct participants. When an incoming FPS payment reaches Pismo, and due to an account-level issue (such as blocked, closed, or invalid beneficiary account), Pismo is unable to credit the funds to the intended recipient. In this case, Pismo initiates a return referencing the original transaction.
However, if this return fails—for example, due to a technical issue at the provider’s end —it may trigger a return reversal.

To ensure resolution:

• Pismo automatically retries the return transaction multiple times until it is successfully accepted by Form3.
• These retries are tracked internally and are part of Pismo’s FPS operational resilience strategy. This mechanism ensures that failed returns are not left unresolved and that funds are either returned or properly reversed in accordance with FPS protocols.

FPS events

Pismo creates the FPS events and events for account creation and subsequent transaction confirmation for reconciliation purposes and sends them to the client.

Conclusion

Integrating with FPS offers significant business advantages, but it demands technical expertise, regulatory awareness, and operational excellence. By leveraging Pismo’s robust endpoints and support, clients can confidently connect with FPS providers and offer secure, high-performance payment experiences to their customers. For more information, or to begin your FPS integration journey, please contact your Pismo representative or consult our developer documentation.