A new independent payments group launched today “will advocate for fairer regulation, lower debit transaction fees and greater reliability for Australian businesses and their customers, as the cost-of-living climbs and cash is rapidly replaced by digital payments in the Australian economy.”
The Independent Payments Forum Australia said it “aims to represent voices that currently go unheard in a payments debate dominated by the big banks and their subsidiaries, global technology players and card schemes, Visa and Mastercard” and also big retailers.
The IPF founders are Brad Kelly, from Payments Consulting, and Warwick Ponder, a former Eftpos executive and now public relations consultant.
This pair said they “believe the current payment landscape in Australia leaves little room for many payments participants to have their say and affect change in a system that is costing businesses and their customers more than a billion dollars in unnecessary debit fees.
“It is essential to maintain innovation and competition in the market which provides real value for small businesses and consumers” they said.
Small business currently pays about $1.7 billion in extra credit and debit card transaction fees, compared to the big retailers on “strategic” rates, the IPF said.
Former Australian Retail Association boss, Russell Zimmerman, and payments data analyst, Peter Drennan, from Qi Insights, have also joined the IPF.
There are other talking shops on payments including two associated with Australian Payments Plus - the End User Forum and Payment Service Provider Forum. Then there’s the Australian Payments Network.
IPF, this new group says it is already working closely on policy issues with a number of small business and industry associations including the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), the Council of Small Business Associations Organisations Australia (COSBOA), and the Australian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA).
“We want to provide a policy forum and an alternative voice on a range of critical but complex payments issues that impact millions of businesses and consumers every single day” Kelly said.
“Unfortunately, the big players in payments have very deep pockets and armies of lobbyists to represent their positions. We think there’s an urgent need to insist that payment fees and regulations are kept fair, and that networks provide reliable services, as our society moves away from cash.
“One example is that small and medium businesses are paying over $1 billion more than they need to because least cost routing for debit cards hasn’t been implemented properly by banks and other payments providers.
“The knock-on effect is that we all pay for it, through higher prices for goods and services.”
IPF said it is currently focused on a number of key issues including:
• Efficiency, security, and resilience of networks
• Innovation and competition, adding value for small businesses and consumers
• Fair fees and surcharging, including protections for merchants and consumers
• Least cost routing, including mobile digital wallets, online and dynamic routing
• Transparency and fairness in pricing for all businesses and their customers
• Real time payments, including its fees, consumer protection and network reliability and stability
• Access to cash