An updated ePayments Code take effect this month, with changes to the way signatories must handle compliance monitoring and data collection, mistaken internet payments, unauthorised transactions and complaints.
The code has also been updated to cover payments made using the New Payments Platform.
When it began consultation on the update last year, ASIC had intended to extend the code’s protections beyond individuals to small business. But the regulator bowed to industry arguments that it would be a complex and costly change and that payment issues experienced by small business are of a different order.
The ePayments Code is a voluntary code of practice that regulates electronic payments, including ATM transactions, online payments, BPAY, point of sale transactions, credit and debit card transactions and mobile banking.
The key protection in the code is that consumers will not be liable for any unauthorised transactions on their accounts if they have taken reasonable precautions to protect their accounts.
Other protections include a requirement to disclose product terms and conditions and fees, a requirement to assist consumers to seek a return of funds mistakenly transferred to the wrong recipient and a requirement to handle complaints.
A controversial change is a clarification of the code’s definition of “mistaken internet payment”, so it only covers actual mistakes in inputting the account identifier and does not extend to payment made to a scammer.
Consumer groups objected to this change but ASIC said the code was never designed to protect consumers from scammers.
And it has clarified that an unauthorised transaction occurs only where a third party has made the transaction without the consumer’s consent.
The updated code removes the requirement for annual reporting by code subscribers, replacing it with an extended power for ASIC to conduct ad hoc monitoring.
ASIC said it did not consider that the value produced from the requirement for annual collection of unauthorised transaction data outweighs the burden on subscribers, particularly smaller entities.
In a consultation paper published earlier this year, it said: “ASIC considers there is benefit in having tools in the code that allow us to choose our particular focuses, as the needs arise, in terms of code topics and particular segments of the industry. Extending the ad hoc monitoring power to other matters relevant to subscribers’ activities relating to electronic payments will allow ASIC to understand emerging trends and adapt the code as necessary.”