Frustrated by the slow pace of innovation in the Australian payments industry, the country's central bank has moved to establish a new industry co-ordination body, the Australian Payments Council.
The proposed Council will comprise diverse parties from within the payments industry, including financial institutions, payment schemes and other payment and service providers, and will run in conjunction with a User Consultation Group, representing the interests of consumers, merchants, businesses and public agencies.
The establishment of the Council follows a hard-hitting 2012 review of payments systems innovation in Australia, which uncovered inherent challenges in achieving industry coordination on major strategic issues. In particular, the RBA believes the shake-up in governance will help it achieve its goal of introducing a real-time faster payments system in the country by 2016.
A consultation paper outlining the proposal is available on the Website of the Australian Payments Clearing Association. Responses are requested by 18 November 2013.