2020 Assessment of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System 1. Executive Summary

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Purpose

This report is an assessment of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS), which is operated by the Bank's Payments Settlements Department. The assessment is against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (the Principles), which were developed by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).^[1] This Assessment has been carried out in accordance with the approach and rating system set out in the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures: Disclosure framework and assessment methodology (the Disclosure Framework) produced by CPMI and IOSCO in December 2012 and CPMI and IOSCO's Application of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to Central Bank FMIs, published in 2015.^[2],[3] The Assessment was independently prepared by the Bank's Payments Policy Department and endorsed by the Payments System Board.

This report covers the period from April 2019 to March 2020.

Conclusion

This Assessment concludes that at end March 2020 RITS observed all the relevant Principles, except for Principle 17 (Operational Risk), which it broadly observed.

Recommendations and Oversight Focus for the Coming Assessment Period

Payments Policy Department recommends that the Bank complete implementation of initiatives to support the continued operational stability of RITS as part of its Technology Stability Improvement Program.

The Bank has fully addressed the recommendations from the 2019 Assessment.

As part of its ongoing oversight process, Payments Policy Department will:

continue to monitor developments designed to ensure that RITS remains resilient in the face of evolving cyber-security threats. Specifically, Payments Policy Department will monitor progress in the continued exploration of enhancements to the ability to recover RITS from cyber attacks in a timely manner
monitor the ongoing response of the Bank to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Footnotes

The Bank's Policy Statement on the Supervision and Oversight of Systemically Important Payment Systems is available at <https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/financial-market-infrastructure/principles/implementation-of-principles.html>. [1]

See CPSS-IOSCO (2012), Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures: Disclosure framework and assessment methodology, December. Available at <http://www.bis.org/cpmi/publ/d106.htm>. [2]

See CPMI-IOSCO (2015), Application of the Principles for financial market infrastructures to central bank FMIs, August. Available at <http://www.bis.org/cpmi/publ/d130.pdf>. [3]