Philip Lowe: An efficient, competitive and safe payments system

Speech by Mr Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at the Austrailian Payments Network Summit 2022, Sydney, 14 December 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
14 December 2022

Thank you for the invitation to speak at AusPayNet's annual Summit. It is a privilege to be with you again.

The world of payments is changing rapidly. It is a world of innovation, of changing business models and of investment that is reshaping our financial system. So it is an exciting time in the world of payments.

The Reserve Bank has a broad mandate to help shape this changing world so that it works in the best interests of Australian households and businesses. We do this through a combination of suasion, regulation and working with industry participants to help overcome the coordination issues that can bedevil payment systems. We also directly support innovation where we reasonably can and we are working with the government to make sure that the regulatory architecture is fit for purpose.

Australians expect payments to be fast, low cost, reliable and easy to use. At the RBA, we share these expectations. We want to see an Australian payments system that is competitive, safe to use, and dynamic and innovative.

This morning I would like to highlight some of the issues we are working on in support of these objectives. These include our efforts to:

  • lower the costs that merchants pay for payment services
  • support the development of Australia's fast payments system
  • lower the cost and increase the speed of international payments
  • support innovation that will help Australia be well placed for the digital future.