Michele Bullock: The evolving global payments landscape - challenges and opportunities for Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region

Speech by Ms Michele Bullock, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, at a joint workshop organised by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), Institute of International Finance (IIF) and RBA, Sydney, 3 October 2025. 

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

Introduction

Good afternoon, and welcome to Sydney. It's a pleasure to host this important dialogue between the CPMI and industry leaders at a time of rapid change in the payments landscape. There is an ever-increasing demand from end users to make payments safer, more efficient, seamless, and capable of integrating into other processes. Technological innovation provides significant opportunities to meet these needs. At the same time, fraud, scams, and cyber threats continue to evolve, giving rise to new challenges to the safety and stability of payment systems. There has never been a more important time to discuss these issues.

Today I would like to share some perspectives for the Asia-Pacific region on some of the key opportunities and challenges, particularly in relation to cross-border payments, the emergence of new forms of digital money, and the resilience of the payments system.

Enhancing cross-border payments in the Asia-Pacific

Businesses and households need efficient, competitive and safe ways to send and receive money across borders. But despite rapid growth in international commerce, cross-border payments services remain expensive, slow and opaque relative to domestic payments. This is of course a global problem, but the strong financial relationships and vast flows of trade and people within the Asia-Pacific region mean that there are substantial gains to be unlocked by enhancing cross-border payments in our region.