Sarah Breeden, the Bank of England's Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, said the central bank will focus its future strategy on tokenization to modernize finance in the UK.
During her Tuesday speech at London's City Week 2026 conference, Breeden said the future retail payment system should feature multiple forms of interchangeable money, including tokenized deposits and stablecoins.
The deputy governor pointed out that using shared ledger technology has the potential to make payments cheaper and faster, with fewer intermediaries. She added that smart contracts allow customization, conditionality, and automation, which can further improve efficiency in retail payments.
"In retail payments, we want a multi-money system that promotes competition and choice between robust forms of money," Breeden said. "Alongside traditional bank deposits, people should be able to pay with tokenized bank deposits, regulated stablecoins and, potentially, a retail central bank digital currency."
Breeden also said the Bank of England is going "a great deal" to support responsible adoption of AI, including agentic payments and commerce.
