The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has warned that it will be "duty bound" to use its regulatory powers if the nation’s banks cannot reach agreement on the new payments platform (NPP), a joint project to deliver near-instant payments.
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Earlier, RBA has asked the country’s financial institutions to start developing a new infrastructure for the new payments system, which allows people to make financial transactions.
RBA has wanted the banks to work together to modernise the system so Australians can make retail payments in real-time, make and receive payments outside of normal banking hours.
RBA also wants Australians to be able to make payments to carry more complete remittance information, and their payments to be addressed in a simpler way than using a BSB and account number.
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens, who was speaking at the Australian Payments Clearing Association’s AGM, said: "We – the industry and the Reserve Bank itself – are building a piece of national infrastructure.
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By GlobalData"We should take every opportunity to increase its potential value to the nation, rather than limiting it for fear of where it might take us.
"The biggest risk with this project is probably not a technical one. It is the risk that, in 10 or 15 years’ time, we will look back and see that we missed an opportunity to provide something that will fully and efficiently support the payments needs of our economy.
"We owe our citizens a better outcome than that. We have to deliver, one way or another, the architecture and products that they will need into the future."
