RBA defends New Payments Platform access
(13 March 2018 – Australia) The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has dismissed claims the Big Four banks will stifle access to the New Payments Platform making it harder for smaller competitors.
Michelle Bullock, assistant governor at the Reserve Bank said she was “optimistic” smaller players would have necessary access to the platform, but the central bank was able to step in if this turned out not to be the case.
The comments came after local fintech firms expressed concerns they would not be granted access.
Ms Bullock added that if smaller companies were struggling to gain access, impacting competition “the Reserve Bank has the power to designate and set an access regime”.
The RBA is one of 13 shareholders in the infrastructure, which was built by Swift, along with nine banks and three payments facilitators. The new system will enable real-time transactions using PayIDs such emails, mobile phone numbers and ABNs as identifiers.
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