“The chief executive of failed neobank Volt still believes there is merit in trying to disrupt Australia’s banking oligopoly, saying his firm’s technology and products were competitive but it couldn’t raise the capital to keep growing. About 6000 customers who had money with Volt were told on Wednesday to urgently withdraw their funds before the digital bank starts closing accounts next Tuesday. Volt said it was intending to hand its banking licence back to the regulator and would return $100 million to its customers after it was forced to close due to struggles to raise enough capital during the pandemic.”

“Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet), the payments industry self-regulatory body, has published guidelines for Quick Response (QR) codes as a payment method. The guidelines will be voluntary for financial institutions, payment service providers, merchants and other payments industry participants and are designed to encourage consistency in how QR codes are used. The guidelines can be accessed on AusPayNet’s website .”

“National Australia Bank (NAB) has joined the buy now, pay later (BNPL) market with the launch of NAB Now Pay Later. NAB boasts that unlike other BNPL products, NAB Now Pay Later charges no late fees, interest, and account fees. Customers will be able to access up to AU$1,000, split purchases in four payments, and use it anywhere Visa is accepted.”

“Thousands of families across Australia are set to try out Kit, a new CommBank-supported money app that could revolutionise how kids learn to earn, save, spend, and manage money, in the digital economy. The app has been launched today as a trial by x15ventures (CommBank’s venture arm), as new research highlights the increasing difficulties parents face as kids grow up using digital devices and the use of cash is declining rapidly.”

“While the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is conducting research into various applications of cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technologies, they are under no pressure to quickly roll out solutions to address clear needs in the marketplace, a representative said earlier today. Speaking to the Australian Corporate Treasury Association, head of payments policy Tony Richards, shared his thoughts on what if any roles crypto, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies could play in the marketplace in the years ahead. He said the growth of this sector has generated the most discussion of any topic the Reserve Bank of Australia has seen in his decade with the organization.”

“Over a million Australians cancelled their credit cards in the past year in favour of the raft of services offering interest-free payment instalments, new research conducted by Nielsen and DBM Atlas shows…The Reserve Bank of Australia reported in March 2020 that buy now, pay later transactional values had risen by 55% in the past 12 months.”

“Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank as well as supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths and fintechs Azupay , Beem It and Merchant Warrior have confirmed they will support the rollout of the national QR payments and rewards platform developed by Australia’s Eftpos payments system.”

“Eftpos has partnered with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Coles, Woolworths, Azupay, Beem It, and Merchant Warrior to launch its new QR code payments platform it’s calling eQR. To begin rolling out as a new consumer payment option before Christmas, eQR has been described by Eftpos CEO Stephen Benton as a system that will become the “QR equivalent” of the company’s tap and pay feature on its debit cards.”

“The Australian government is considering new laws that would tighten the regulation of digital payment services by tech giants such as Apple (AAPL.O) and Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) . Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he would “carefully consider” that and other recommendations from a government-commissioned report into whether the payments system had kept pace with advances in technology and changes in consumer demand. Services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and China’s WeChat Pay, which have grown rapidly in recent years, are not currently designated as payment systems, putting them outside the regulatory system.”

“Australian payments provider Eftpos has announced plans to spend another AU$30 million on digital upgrades to its network over the next year, including new security features. The AU$30 million adds to the AU$70 million Eftpos has already spent on its network over the last four years. The new security features are expected to be available to all Australian banks and financial institutions by November, with plans for a full rollout by May 2022.”

“BHMI , a leading provider of payments software and creator of the Concourse Financial Software Suite® , announced that Cuscal Limited , Australia’s leading independent provider of payment solutions, will be utilizing BHMI’s Concourse solution to support the needs and requirements for Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) upcoming PayTo initiative, which provides customers with enhanced visibility and control over their payment options.”

“Australian payments player Eftpos has announced completing the build of its new QR code payments infrastructure. The first stage of the QR infrastructure was built in early July, CEO Stephen Benton said, and is described as being designed to provide secure and enhanced consumer purchasing and engagement experiences through loyalty, offers, receipts, and added security. Benton said testing of the new QR code infrastructure is underway and end-to-end testing would be completed when the first merchant goes live in August. Eftpos said the first commercial trials would be announced in the coming weeks.”

“Three domestic payment systems – Eftpos, BPay and NPP Australia – have agreed to merge in a deal that would create a larger, coordinated player better able to compete against US card giants Visa and Mastercard, which have been stealing market share in debit payments. The merger, which requires Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval, will also allow banks to coordinate investment to ensure domestic payment infrastructure remains innovative and transaction data is not lost to offshore technology companies.”