APCA rings in the changes

The Australian Payments Clearing Association is making a number of changes to its structure, which it says mark the biggest reorganisation of the payments industry body in a decade.

It will establish a payment direction unit to support the work of the Australian Payments Council, which was established last year as the strategic co-ordinating body for the payments industry.

In May the Council launched a consultation paper outlining options for the development of a broad strategic plan for the Australian payment system.

APCA will also establish a payments community unit to support the "extended community of payments organisations: banks, other financial institutions, specialist payments companies and system operators."

It is recruiting general managers to run the two new units.

In another change, on July 1 the Issuers and Acquirers Community took over the work of the Consumer Electronic Clearing System. CECS has been responsible for the efficiency, security and integrity of transactions on the ATM and point of sale networks since 2000.

APCA said in a statement that changes within CECS required the involvement of a wider range of card industry participants. The new IAC "will provide the framework for industry co-operation and co-ordination of the non-commercial aspects of card payments in Australia."

It will differ from CECS in encompassing all Australia card payments, rather than only domestic debit and ATM, give greater scope for card schemes and other stakeholders to participate and have greater power to enforce standards.

A year ago APCA changed its constitution to admit "any participant in any recognised Australian payments system" as a member. The change opened the way for Visa, MasterCard, eftpos, BPay, Austraclear and other card scheme operators to join.