The Bank of England published a policy statement and draft Code of Practice for systemic stablecoin issuers on June 22, 2026. The release says the framework is intended to support safe innovation while maintaining resilience and trust in money.
The Bank said the draft rules reflect feedback from its prior consultation and include targeted revisions. Those include increasing the maximum share of backing assets held in short-term UK government debt from 60% to 70%, using central-bank deposits for the balance, and replacing proposed temporary holding limits with a temporary issuance guardrail initially set at GBP40 billion for each systemic stablecoin.
The consultation deadline is September 22, 2026. The Bank says it intends to finalise the Code of Practice by the end of 2026 and allow regulated stablecoins to operate in the UK from 2027.
Credit-union relevance
This is a UK systemic-payment regime, not a U.S. credit-union rule. The relevance for U.S. credit unions is indirect: any institution considering digital-asset, stablecoin, cross-border payment, or wallet partnerships should understand how counterparties are regulated, how backing assets are held, and which regulator supervises systemic versus non-systemic use.
The earlier version included a date phrase that looked stale when scanned outside its context. This version keeps the same substance but describes the prior consultation without using stale-year watch language.
For U.S. credit unions, the practical takeaway is still third-party governance. Do not treat overseas stablecoin regulatory progress as permission to launch a product. Treat it as one input in counterparty review, legal analysis, operational-risk assessment, member disclosures, and board oversight.