Friday 8 June 2012

Reserve Bank of Australia to lead mobile payments


By Raphael Michilis
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will take the lead to speed up the architecture of Australian payments system towards mobile phone age.

Although "the notion that a regulator should be involved in matters of innovation might be seen as inconsistent with the regulatory philosophy in Australia," the bank will take "a stronger role" in modernising the country’s payments infrastructure, said Glenn Stevens, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor.

According to Stevens, Australia’s payments service is limited and has changed very little in the pas 30 years, despite technology evolution.

He said that the system is “a bit dated” and that "co-operative decision-making between competitors is notoriously difficult", thus RBA would "ensure any disconnect between the public interest and the business case is properly managed".

"Australians can make internet bank transactions relatively easy but we still have some way to go facilitating payments via mobile phones," said Chris Hamilton, chief executive of the Australian Payments Clearing Corporation.

Mr Hamilton said retail non-cash payments accounted for only 2% of total payments by value today, but consumers could look forward to real-time, person-to-person payments instead of waiting one or two days for their transactions to be fully processed, as they do now.

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