Australian Payments Council launches community consultation

The Australian Payments Council has issued a consultation paper calling for responses from the community to help it formulate its Australian Payments Plan, due out later this year.

It wants to find out what consumers value in a payments system and what trends they would like to see reflected in the development of the Australian system.

It wants to know where consumers, community groups and businesses see the right balance between resilience and security (which might require a strict licensing regime), and ease of access, efficiency and adaptability.

The Australian Payments Council was established last year as the strategic co-ordinating body for the payments industry. The development of a payments plan is designed to guide future industry collaboration.

A look into the Council's crystal ball shows a market were digitisation and network innovation create opportunities for the establishment of new networks, creating risks and opportunities.

Payments will be increasingly customised for particular users (using business and social networks). New "form factors", such as wearables, will come into play.

Systems will operate around the clock with settlements in real time. And consumers will have "digital identities", with new forms of authentication (such as biometrics).

The paper sets out a more competitive scenario but also one where the development of things like digital identity will require industry collaboration.

It says industry players need to work together to develop innovative ways to combat fraud.

The paper says the industry supports more payment platforms but would want to ensure that the number and type of systems are appropriate for the Australian market.

And the paper throws in an old Australian Payments Clearing Association chestnut - how to co-ordinate the end of the cheque system.