A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
Search Payments News
September 15, 2023
On the web
Australia to be ‘Functionally Cashless’ by 2025
News
August 23, 2023
On the web
Australia's CBDC Likely Some Years Away, Central Bank Says
Business Insider
July 7, 2023
On the web
By the Numbers: Australian Credit and Debit Card Statistics
Investing.com Australia
June 22, 2023
On the web
Major Bank’s New Cash Rule for Aussies
Yahoo Life
June 8, 2023
On the web
Cheques Will be Phased Out by 2030 as Mobile Wallet Use Sky-Rockets (Australia)
ABC News
On the wires
Australia's Largest Bank Blocks Payments to Some Crypto Exchanges
Reuters
June 7, 2023
On the web
Banks, Fintechs Back Australian Payments Overhaul
iTnews
June 6, 2023
On the wires
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Removes International Money Transfer Fee
Reuters
June 2, 2023
On the web
First Real-World, Cross-Border Settlement Using Australian CBDC Completed Through NexPay and Monoova
The Fintech Times
May 31, 2023
On the web
CTC International Services First in the World to Develop Android Phone to Android Phone NFC Payment
EIN News
May 24, 2023
On the web
Woolworths Rolls Out a Big Change to the Way People Shop
Australian Financial Review
May 22, 2023
On the web
Apple Pay on a Roll, and the Banks are Rattled to Their Cores (Australia)
Australian Financial Review
On the wires
Australia Hits Buy-Now-Pay-Later Sector with Consumer Credit Law
Reuters
May 18, 2023
On the web
Banks Unveil New Weapon to Fight Scams, but Consumer Troup Says Customers Remain Exposed (Australia)
ABC News
Australian ‘Big 4’ Bank Begins Trial for Cryptocurrency Payment Blocks
Cointelegraph
May 4, 2023
On the web
Monoova and Primer Jointly Bring Flexible Digital Payments to Australia
IBS Intelligence
April 3, 2023
On the web
How Low Can Tap and Pay Fees Go?
Small Caps
PayTo is Live at 50 Financial Organisations
iTnews
March 16, 2023
On the web
NAB, Westpac Sell Stakes in Open Banking Start-up Basiq
Australian Financial Review
March 15, 2023
On the web
ANZ to Run Central Bank Digital Currency Pilot at Australian Universities
NFCW
On the wires
Novatti Launches Multi-Currency Platform for Australian Bill Payments
PR Newswire
March 14, 2023
On the wires
Wirex Partners with Novatti to Bring Next-Gen Multicurrency Card to Everyday Users in Australia
PR Newswire
March 8, 2023
On the web
Coles Shops for QR Code Digi Wallet Solution with AP+
CRN Australia
March 3, 2023
On the web
Research Project Exploring Use Cases for CBDC (Australia)
Reserve Bank of Australia
February 2, 2023
On the web
Commonwealth Bank Adding Anti-Scam Features to its Apps
The West Australian
Commonwealth Bank is rolling out new features for its widely used banking apps aimed at combating the plague of scammers ripping off Australians. From late March, the app will indicate whether the name and account details customers have entered are correct when they make payments using a BSB and account number.
December 15, 2022
On the web
Australia’s Central Bank Highlights Payments Goals and Areas of Improvement
Insider Intelligence
“Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov. Philip Lowe outlined four goals and initiatives to improve Australia’s payments system in a Wednesday speech. 1. Lowering payment costs for merchants. A big part of this initiative involves expanding least-cost routing (LCR), which lets merchants route debit payments through the most affordable network. Merchants can choose from Visa, Mastercard, or home-grown payments network eftpos. Australia’s Payments System Board wants to make LCR available for mobile wallet payments—which has strong penetration in the market. 2. Supporting the development of Australia’s faster payments system. Australia offers account-to-account push payments through its New Payments Platform (NPP), which has processed over 1 billion transactions worth more than $1 trillion in the past year. But it wants to enable the same faster payments functionality for direct debit payments. Since NPP was designed for push payments, the government created PayTo to enable faster direct debit payments. But Lowe is frustrated with Australia’s major banks, which he says have been slow to implement PayTo. The banks have agreed to make PayTo fully operational by April 2023…”
December 14, 2022
On the web
RBA Calls On Apple, Google, Samsung To Cut Retailer Fees
channelnews
“Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has called on global tech giants to reduce payment costs for retailers accepting payments made through smartphones. At his keynote at today’s AusPayNet event in Sydney, Lowe said the RBA has consulted with Apple, Google, and Samsung, as well as the banks and POS providers, in order to implement “least cost routing” for merchants. LCR will route payments through the bank-owned eftpos network, rather than via Visa and Mastercard, which charge retailers more. Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay “is growing very quickly, and they are often more expensive for merchants to accept,” Lowe said. “It would be both feasible and desirable for the industry to deliver LCR functionality for mobile wallet transactions by the end of 2024.”
December 9, 2022
On the web
RBA Fears an Australian CBDC Could Sideline Banks and Displace the Dollar
Kitco News
“The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a speech by Assistant Governor Brad Jones which outlines some of the worrisome impacts that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could have on the country’s financial system. Jones focused his remarks on the potential risks of a retail CBDC. “This recognizes that a wholesale CBDC would entail less change to the status quo, as financial institutions already hold digital claims issued by the Bank.” Jones reviewed some of the key arguments in favor of CBDC adoption, including strengthening financial inclusion where banks are few or distant, supporting universal access to public money where banknotes are hard to access or sparingly used, and safeguarding monetary sovereignty in societies with weaker rule of law and monetary systems. According to Jones, these situations do not apply to Australia…“The first of these concerns relates to the potential for a CBDC to become the preferred source of liquidity holdings for households in normal times, at the expense of commercial bank deposits,” Jones said.”
December 2, 2022
On the web
Transforming Ecommerce with PowerBoard
Commonwealth Bank
“The role of a bank in ecommerce in Australia is changing, with the launch of CBA’s new platform PowerBoard. With this solution, selected merchants will be able to “plug in” to the platform once and deploy their ecommerce offering, gaining access to a range of payment methods which can be seamlessly switched on for their customers – all through a single platform. To date, payments orchestration has generally only been accessible to larger business with in-house technology teams. PowerBoard will provide merchants of many sizes with payments acquiring, multi gateway capability, a menu of payment options, and an innovation roadmap that will future-proof their business and deliver technology efficiencies. To deliver this Australian banking first, CBA has partnered with fintech and payments orchestration platform Paydock, combining global best technology with bank-grade standards to give merchants peace of mind and meet enhanced security, fraud, data and cyber standards. The PowerBoard portal provides a simple interface to switch on features, monitor real-time transactions, and configure the experience they want to deliver to their customers; meeting the unique needs of each business…PowerBoard is set to integrate with five categories of payment methods: traditional card payments; digital wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay; Buy Now Pay Later alternative payment methods; domestic payment methods such as eftpos and PayTo; and digital gift cards. In addition to payment methods, PowerBoard will simplify other technology integrations, such as enhanced security tools that support merchants to detect and prevent fraud. Additional connected services will be added in future releases, such as logistics and multi-currency. In some cases, an agreement will be required between the merchant and the provider of the third party connected service.”
November 1, 2022
On the web
Regulatory Changes Flagged for Afterpay and Other Buy Now, Pay Later Services
news.com.au
“Afterpay customers could have to undergo more detailed credit checks under new regulations being considered for the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector. Treasury is putting the finishing touches on its review of how BNPL operators such as Afterpay, Zip, humm and Klarna can be regulated to help provide better protections for consumers. The resulting issues paper is due to be released in coming weeks. A relatively new industry, BNPL is exempt from laws designed to protect borrowers who use products such as credit cards and personal loans. The loophole exists because providers don’t charge customers interest, and therefore the product they provide is not technically considered credit. Flagging the Treasury review earlier this year, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said he wanted BNPL services to be treated like other credit products under Australian law.”