Payments System Board Update: March 2025 Meeting | Media Releases | RBA
Central bank: rba | Type: statement | Date: 2025-03-06

Media Release
Payments System Board Update: March 2025 Meeting
6 March 2025
At its meeting today, the Payments System Board discussed a number of issues, including:
CHESS batch failure incident.
Members discussed the issues that contributed to the
CHESS batch failure incident on 20 December 2024. The Board viewed the disruption this caused to
clearing and settlement of cash equities as a major operational incident. As the RBA had highlighted
for some time that ASX’s aging assets, including CHESS, were raising the risk of operational
disruptions to critical financial infrastructure, members viewed the incident as deeply disappointing
and resolved to take regulatory interventions to provide assurance that the ASX addresses related
risks as a matter of priority. Further details on the RBA’s regulatory response to the incident
will be published by the end of March.
Developments in the account-to-account payments system.
The Board discussed the
risks associated with the Australian payments industry’s intended decommissioning of the Bulk
Electronic Clearing System (BECS) by a target date of 2030. BECS is currently Australia’s
primary system for account-to-account payments - Australians rely on BECS for a wide range of
critical payments including welfare, pension, salary and bill payments. The Board endorsed a set of
recommendations designed to address the significant risks and challenges identified by the RBA.
Members agreed that the foundational next steps for industry should include: defining a vision for
the target future state and strategic objectives for account-to-account payments in Australia, in
collaboration with the Government and the RBA; comprehensive consideration of options for achieving
that target future state; and establishing appropriate mechanisms for coordination and stakeholder
engagement. A report detailing the findings and recommendations of the RBA’s risk assessment
will be published later in March. Members requested an update on industry’s progress in
implementing the recommendations in a year’s time.
Members also discussed end-user costs for account-to-account payments in Australia, which highlighted
potential impediments that end-users would face if they had to migrate away from BECS. Members agreed
that greater pricing transparency was required from providers of these services to end-users. They
expressed support for the RBA establishing a robust pricing data collection to support future policy
deliberations.
Review of Retail Payments Regulation
. The Board considered the arguments for and
against various policy options on merchant card payment costs and surcharging, informed by a wide
range of views from stakeholder submissions. The Board is actively exploring options to promote the
public interest by supporting safety, competition and efficiency in the payments system. Members
agreed to release a consultation paper in mid-2025 that will outline the Board’s preferred
policy options and seek further feedback.
International and domestic work on central bank digital currencies
discussed the ongoing program of international and domestic research on CBDCs. Domestically, the RBA
has a collaborative research project underway, Project Acacia, which is investigating how innovations
in wholesale digital money could support tokenised asset settlement. The project team is currently
reviewing expressions of interest from industry participants wanting to collaborate in the testing of
settlement models as part of the applied research phase taking place this year. An Industry Advisory
Group has also recently been launched to support the project. Members also discussed the Bank’s
plans to use focus groups to explore whether there are unmet payment needs that could be satisfied
with a retail CBDC in Australia. This work is expected to take place in the second half of the year.