This time last year, I reported on the lodgement of an industry proposal to develop new real-time payments architecture for Australia. Rashly, I suggested that:
- The Payments System Board would back the industry proposal (they did);
- APCA would publish the proposal in full, so everyone knew what we were on about (we did); and
- Industry collaboration on the new architecture would need to get going quickly if we were to have a shot at meeting the challenging timeframes set by RBA (and that happened too!)
The initial proposal has grown in less than a year to a New Payments Platform (NPP) Program, jointly funded and directed by 17 leading Australian institutions and managed by KPMG. KPMG’s appointment has allowed us to harness their global experience of comparable overseas developments, particularly in the UK.
My last prediction for 2013 was that it would be an interesting year – and so it has proved. The first deliverables are already in the bag: just before Christmas, the NPP Steering Committee signed off on business requirements, a more detailed concept paper and a full implementation plan through to 2016. Work is already well advanced on a competitive tender for technical partners to happen early in 2014.
The commitment and collaboration from busy industry professionals has been outstanding. We are on track to delivering that rare thing, a genuine innovation in payment systems. We can all take a bow (if, that is, we can be bothered getting up from our holiday deckchairs).
I want to extend my personal thanks and appreciation to the many people from APCA, KPMG and all 17 financial institutions who have put in the hours – sometimes long hours – to get us to where we are. More will be required of you in 2014, but we have started well.
But there is another group I need to acknowledge. In order for some APCA and member staff to do what was needed for NPP, others had to step up and make sure we met all our other commitments. Their contribution was no less critical.
For instance, in November 2013 we moved the Direct Entry system from a single next-day settlement of all credits and debits to five same-day settlement cycles. This reduces risk and increases product flexibility for members. In any other year, this would have been a headline project, but amongst the excitement of the NPP, it was barely noticed, despite going off seamlessly. We also finalised and adopted a new constitution for APCA, allowing for broader membership and more representative industry decision-making. We pushed forward on other significant efforts that should come to fruition in 2014, like a proposed Payments Council and a new self-regulatory framework for card payments. And of course, APCA staff did their day jobs – operational support for five clearing systems and the COIN infrastructure system, administrative support for their respective governance bodies; hundreds of mentions in the media, dozens of reports in industry journals. The list goes on.
Thanks and deep appreciation to all of you, too. I think we will look back on 2013 as a watershed year in Australian payments.
