The case for adapting the mechanisms used for high-value payments to process low value and consumer payments was one topic addressed in some industry submissions to the Reserve Bank of Australia's review of innovation in payments.A comprehensive discussion of the options is provided in a white paper submitted by SWIFT, the banking industry's global payments cooperative.SWIFT's goals are not altruistic: high value payments in Australia already employ their network, and the white paper scopes out scenarios under which banks (that is, SWIFT's part-owners) might make more use of the firm's services in a domestic context.SWIFT listed four innovation gaps where, in its view, customer demand for a solution was "high" or "very high".These were "standards" (SWIFT wants the industry to adopt its own international ISO 20022 standard); transmission of data with standards; the ease of addressing payments, and the real-time availability of funds for some urgent payments.This list is noteworthy given that several major banks in their own submissions to the RBA dispute the business case for adopting these reforms (the banks' views were summarised in yesterday's edition). In an aspirational introduction to its white paper, SWIFT argued that "innovation is not just a 'nice to have' in the Australian environment, but that it represents the most sensible form of insurance against the cost and rigidity of 'legacy' [systems]."SWIFT wrote, "We see rigidity in the business architecture of the Australian payments framework that both engenders and is also the product of technical rigidity. "This is a classic 'legacy' problem and the temptation is to 'work around it'."This is actually a high risk strategy as it adds to the complexity and rigidity of the broad system, rather than tackling these attributes in a controlled fashion."SWIFT argues that "the community should build a bit of new road and establish a roadmap that will give participants options for unwinding and reworking the business and technical architectures in a 'managed evolution'." The adaptation of SWIFT's technology to mass market solutions has several precedents, including use in one of the Australian industry's domestic markets. In New Zealand, SWIFT technology will be employed as part of the forthcoming improvements to banks' low-value settlement practices.SWIFT is also making some headway in processing direct debits and credit transfers in Europe.