The Bank of England's fees regime for financial market infrastructure supervision 2026/27

Overview

This CP sets out proposals for the Bank of England’s (the Bank’s) supervisory fees for financial market infrastructure (FMI) for 2026/27. The proposals cover:

• The fee rates to meet the Bank’s 2026/27 funding requirement for its FMI supervisory activity and the policy activity that supports this, as permitted by the Bank’s fee-levying powers.
• An extension to the phased recovery period for UK CCP rulebook costs.

This CP is relevant to all FMIs (apart from recognised payment systems and specified service providers) that currently pay FMI supervisory fees to the Bank or are expecting to do so within the 2026/27 fee year.^{footnote [1]} This includes both UK and Non-UK FMIs.

We previously signposted that HMT is exploring options to increase the statutory fee cap for recognised payment systems and specified service providers, by regulations subject to Parliamentary approval, and will consult on any proposals in due course. The Bank will therefore consult on the annual supervision fee for recognised payment systems and specified service providers for the 2026/27 fee year once the HMT consultation is underway.

The Bank expects to begin levying supervision fees for the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS) in the 2026/27 fee year. Supervision fees for the Digital Securities Sandbox were addressed in a policy statement published on 30 September 2024 and are included in this document for information.

Summary

Background

The Bank of England regulates and supervises FMIs to safeguard financial stability by ensuring that these key systems are prepared for, and resilient to, the wide range of risks that they face, so that they are able to absorb rather than amplify shocks. This in turn, provides the basis for sustained economic growth.

The Bank’s responsibilities changed following the entry into force of The Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA 2023) which gave the Bank rulemaking powers and responsibilities, following the UK’s exit from the EU. Increased policy work has been taking place as a result to support efficient and effective supervision, including the development of rulebooks to replace requirements previously set out in EU legislation – this new model of regulation will provide greater flexibility for rules to be updated where needed in future, for example to take account of market developments and new business models. Work on the creation of the UK central counterparties (CCP) rulebook is nearing completion and we are scoping the UK central securities depository (CSD) rulebook, informed by industry engagement and lessons learned from the Digital Securities Sandbox.

At the same time, we want to support innovation across the FMI landscape to provide more efficient and effective services to households and businesses, supporting economic growth in the UK. In support of our secondary innovation objective, we set out in July 2025 the Bank’s supervisory approach to onboarding new FMIs, including that FMIs could initially operate in a mobilisation phase to build out and test new functions, with regulatory oversight proportionate to the risks posed by FMIs in such limited stages of operations.^{footnote [2]} To further put this approach into effect, we consulted in March 2026 on using our new requirements and permissions powers to facilitate mobilisation of new CCPs by adjusting or waiving requirements that might be too burdensome in such a phase of operations,^{footnote [3]}

Recognising the importance of managing the overall costs incurred by the financial sector, the Bank’s costs in aggregate are subject to tight cost control and are budgeted within constraints set by Court. Information on the Bank’s FMI workplan, which is funded by the fees, is set out in its Annual Reports on FMI supervision, the next of which will be published in June 2026.^{footnote [4]}

Fee proposals for 2026/27

The Bank’s annual FMI supervisory fee includes the costs of FMI supervision staff together with relevant policy support, specialist resources, corporate services and other costs associated with the work of the FMI Directorate. The overall costs of the FMI directorate have seen a reduction over the past year reflecting a Bank-wide focus on efficiencies in the way that we work to support investment in technology.

The Bank is normalising its CCP policy work since the entry into force of FSMA 2023 and expects CCP policy activity to reach a more settled state in the near term once the transition has completed. We have also implemented efficiencies and greater prioritisation of supervisory work this year. This is reflected in the UK CCP fee for 2026/27 which sees a reduction of 3.2% (excluding rulebook costs) compared to last year.

The UK CSD figure represents an increase of 7.7% and reflects activity to scope the work on the repeal and replace of inherited EU legislation governing CSDs (CSDR). The Bank intends to work with FCA and HMT to provide a full roadmap later this year on CSDR repeal and replace. This will include a roadmap for the permanent regime for digital securities settlement, for which the current regime is established through the Digital Securities Sandbox.

We have brought forward the timing of our consultation process and the impact of external market conditions on the Bank’s pension costs for 2026/27 has yet to be fully confirmed. The fee forecast is therefore provisional and may need to be revised once final cost estimates are available. The final costs will be confirmed in the policy statement.

Application of fee ratios across different categories of UK FMI types

In 2025/26 we consulted on changes to the fee ratios for allocating fees between the different categories of UK FMIs and we will apply these for the 2026/27 fee year.

Proposals

This section sets out proposals on FMI fee rates to meet the Bank’s 2026/27 funding requirement for its FMI supervisory activity and the policy activity that supports this, as permitted by the Bank’s fee-levying powers. The FMIs that are within the scope of the consultation on the FMI supervisory fee are UK and Non-UK CCPs, and UK and Non-UK CSDs. More information can be found on the Bank’s website page for Financial market infrastructure supervision.

The below table sets out the proposed fee for each category of UK FMI.

Recovery of UK CCP Rulebook costs

The work to create a UK CCP rulebook is nearing completion with costs expected to be contained within the revised forecast of £5,000,000 which we shared in last year’s consultation paper. The original forecast was for £4,500,000 with a plan to recover in instalments of £1,500,000 over 3 years. We propose keeping the 2026/27 cost recovery instalment at £1,500,000 and recovering any excess over the original forecast in the 2027/28 fee year.

Non-UK CCPs and CSDs

The Bank will levy fees in line with the principles set out in the November 2022 fees regime policy statements for Non-UK CCPs and Non-UK CSDs.

The ratios for allocating fees between the different categories of Non-UK CCPs and Non-UK CSDs are unchanged. The ratios of fees charged and the proposed levies across the categories of Non-UK CCPs are set out in Table C. The fees for Non-UK CSDs are set out in Table D.

For Non-UK Group B and C CCPs we have seen a reduction in fees by 0.5% and for the Group A Non-UK CSDs a reduction by less than 0.1%. The fixed fees for the smaller Non-UK CCPs and CSDs have remained unchanged.

Under or overspend in fees for 2025/26

As set out in the June 2018 policy statement, the Bank will set FMI fees based on the expected business as usual supervisory resource expenditure for the upcoming fee year. Where the Bank’s spend is greater or less than anticipated, the Bank will consider adjusting its annual supervisory levy for the following fee year to account for any under or overspends. Following a final review of supervisory resource allocation in 2025/26, the Bank costs were in line with expectations and there will therefore be no recovery or rebate.

Forward look

We expect to see increased policy work in relation to securities settlement primarily driven by the repeal and replacement of UK CSDR with Bank of England Rules. The Bank intends to work with FCA and HMT to provide a full roadmap later this year on CSDR repeal and replace. This will include a roadmap for the permanent regime for digital securities settlement, for which the current regime is established through the Digital Securities Sandbox.

Additionally, we are reviewing application fees for new FMIs and will consult on any amendments to our approach, if appropriate, in a future consultation.^{footnote [5]}

HMT are exploring options to increase the statutory fee cap for recognised payment systems and specified service providers , by regulations subject to Parliamentary approval, and will consult on any proposals in due course. The Bank will therefore consult on the annual supervision fee for recognised payment systems and specified service providers for the 26/27 fee year once the HMT consultation is underway.

The Bank expects to begin levying the annual supervision fee for the DSS in the 2026/27 fee year. As set out in the policy statement the annual supervision fee is currently estimated at £85,000 per firm. It is intended to recover the Bank’s cost of operating the DSS, including supervision of Digital Securities Depositories and associated policy activity. The fee will be charged on a cost recovery basis and pro-rated according to the point in the fee year at which a firm passes Gate 2. Invoices will be issued when Gate 2 permission is granted. Consistent with the approach for existing FMIs, the Bank may make an adjustment at the end of each fee year to reflect any over or under spend. Further details will be included in the 2027/28 FMI fees consultation, which will confirm the final amount payable.

Process and next steps

Approach

The Bank’s annual FMI supervisory fee includes the costs of FMI supervision staff together with relevant policy support, specialist resources, corporate services and other costs associated with the work of the FMI Directorate. The proposals in this CP have been prepared under a number of resource assumptions and there may therefore be variation in the final fee rates for the 2026/27 fee year because the final fee will reflect the actual level of supervisory resource expenditure over the course of the year. Any significant variance will be addressed at the conclusion of the 2026/27 fee year through either a rebate or a request for an additional fee payment.

We have brought forward the timing of our consultation process and the impact of external market conditions on the Bank’s pension costs for 2026/27 has yet to be fully confirmed. The fee forecast is therefore provisional and may need to be revised once final cost estimates are available. The final costs will be confirmed in the policy statement.

Implementation

The proposed implementation date for the proposals contained in this consultation is Q2 of the 2026/27 fee year (June 2026 to August 2026), where invoices will be issued for the 2026/27 fee year.

Responses

This consultation closes on 18 May 2026. The Bank invites feedback on the proposals set out in this CP. Please address any comments or enquiries to:

FMIFees@bankofengland.co.uk

or, alternatively to: FMI Fees, Financial Market Infrastructure Directorate, Bank of England, 20 Moorgate, London, EC2R 6DA.

Bank of England objectives analysis

The Bank has considered its objective to protect and enhance the financial stability of the UK, its secondary objective to facilitate innovation in the provision of FMI services and other statutory obligations.

‘Have regards’ analysis

In developing these proposals, the Bank has had regard to the following statutory duties and regulatory principles:

• The public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. The Bank does not consider that the proposals set out in this consultation paper have any implications for equality matters.
• The need to use the resources of the Bank in the most efficient and economical way. This is reflected in the approach taken on managing the budget across the Bank’s work on FMIs.
• The principle that any burden which is imposed on the carrying out of an activity should be proportionate to the benefits which are expected to result from the imposition of that burden. This is reflected by allocating fees through proportionate fee blocks that take into account the size and nature of the Bank-authorised community.
• The desirability of sustainable growth in the economy of the UK in the medium or long term. In particular, the Bank has considered the interests of minimum fee payers and firms not affected by certain Bank activities and has spread the recovery of one-off costs for developing the CCP rulebook over an extended period on a phased cost recovery basis.
• The desirability where appropriate of the Bank exercising its FMI functions in a way that recognises differences in the nature of, and objectives of, businesses carried on by different persons. The proposals consider the differences in the business models employed by firms and support innovation by ensuring that they do not result in barriers to new entrants.
• The principle that the Bank should exercise its FMI functions as transparently as possible. This is reflected in the clear explanation of the basis on which the proposed fees are calculated and providing advance notice of the proposed changes to its fees and charges.
• The desirability of facilitating fair and reasonable access to FMI services. The Bank does not consider that the fees will have an impact on the fair and reasonable access to the FMIs.
• The effects that the exercise of FMI functions will or may have on the financial stability of countries or territories outside the UK in which FMI entities are established or provide services. Fees levied on incoming FMIs are not considered to be of a level that would impact the financial stability of those jurisdictions.

The Bank has had regard to other factors as required. Where analysis has not been provided against a ‘have regard’ for this set of proposals, it is because the Bank considers that ‘have regard’ to not be a significant factor for this set of proposals.