The Australian Payments Clearing Association has started the new financial year with a new constitution that will broaden membership and improve its governance structure. The payments industry's self-regulatory body has extended membership eligibility to "any participant in any recognised Australian payments system".Under its old constitution members had to be participants in APCA-administered systems. The organisation has 100 members.The change opens the way for Visa, MasterCard, eftpos and other card scheme operators to join, as well as BPay and Austraclear.The APCA board has been expanded to include two additional independent directors. They are Jennifer Clark, a banker for 20 years and now a director of National ICT Australia and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority; and Kate Mulligan, a lawyer turned wealth management executive and now a director of Netwealth.APCA has also changed its director election arrangements, moving from electoral groups (such as regional banks) who appointed their board representatives to a more open electoral process.APCA chief executive Chris Hamilton said in a statement: "The structure of the Australian payments system is changing fast and APCA is changing with it. For many years, APCA's focus was on the basic plumbing of Australian payments - non-competitive payment clearing arrangements."But two long-term trends are changing the nature of Australian payments and brining new challenges for APCA, notably the growth of new payment providers and the rapid growth of competition amongst payment systems."