Media Release Payments System Board Update: February 2020 Meeting

At its meeting today, the Payments System Board discussed a number of issues, including:

• The results of the Bank's 2019 Consumer Payments Survey. Members noted that the decline in the use of cash for consumer payments had continued, with households increasingly choosing to use electronic payment methods. At the same time, cash remains widely held for precautionary purposes and some members of the community continue to make most of their payments in cash. The main findings of the survey will be published in the March RBA Bulletin.
• The Review of Retail Payments Regulation. The Bank has received around 50 written submissions in response to the Issues Paper published in November. Bank staff will be meeting with stakeholders over the coming weeks to discuss their responses. The Board had a preliminary discussion of the key policy issues raised. It will consider these issues further at its next meeting in May.
• Migration to ISO 20022. The Board was briefed on the conclusions from the industry consultation recently conducted by the Bank and the Australian Payments Council on the adoption of the new ISO 20022 messaging standards in some parts of the Australian payments system. The Board endorsed the planned industry-led migration project as being strategically important for the Australian payments industry and places a high priority on the agreed deadlines being met by industry participants. The migration plan will be presented in a conclusions paper which will be published in coming weeks.
• Financial market infrastructure (FMI) regulatory reforms. The Board discussed feedback received from stakeholders on the proposed regulatory reforms for FMIs. The reforms include changes to modernise the supervisory framework and to implement a resolution framework for domestic clearing and settlement facilities. The Council of Financial Regulators will discuss the stakeholder feedback at its March meeting and will then provide the Government with recommendations on legislative proposals.
• An annual review of the systemic importance of domestic payment systems. Members reviewed developments in the payments landscape and affirmed that RITS is currently the only domestic system that should be subject to ongoing formal oversight and assessment by the Bank against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures. The Board also discussed the evolving role of overseas clearing and settlement facilities in Australian financial markets.