cash Archives - APCA Blog

Milestones Report, May 2017: Cheque use plunges in the digital economy

Our latest Milestones Report looks at the payment choices Australian make. It’s clear that the vast majority are moving away from cash and cheques faster than ever before. This is happening because widespread use of new technology combined with a…

Infographic: The Digital Economy November 2016

25 November, 2016
Alice Markie
Payment System

Cheques now represent just 1.2% of all non-cash transactions as Australians show a clear preference for electronic payment methods. Over the past 10 years, cheque use has declined by nearly 73% and the rate of decline is accelerating. Simultaneously, cash…

Cash: the Next Generation

1 September, 2016
Alice Markie
Payment System

The first in the new Next Generation Banknote series went into circulation today. This begs the $5 question: what role does cash play in our payments mix? Michele Bullock, Assistant Governor (Business Services) at the Reserve Bank of Australia and…

RBA data suggests 40% of credit card values in Australia are now card-not-present

Change is pretty well the only constant when it comes to consumer payments. In Australia, we have seen a rapid uptake in contactless card use as well as increased use of online payments. Conversely, we have seen a rapid decline in personal cheque use as well as an ever-diminishing use of cash. Monitoring changing payment usage can be notoriously difficult. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and APCA collect and publish statistics from industry participants on cheques, cards and electronic payments as well the number of ATMs and POS devices. However, other types of usage such as cash use and the split between card-present (point-of-sale) and card-not-present (internet, telephone and mail) transactions are more difficult to track. Consumers and merchants don’t regularly record or report their own payments activity – meaning we only get a partial picture of how payments use is evolving.

Payment costs in Australia – early observations from new RBA research

6 January, 2015
Brad Pragnell
Payment System

With complex processes and multiple parties, determining the costs of payments can be difficult. In recent years, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has taken up the challenge and released a research report on the cost of payments in Australia. This represents a long-awaited follow up to research last done in 2006. The most recent RBA report dated December 2014 draws upon data collected in 2013 from financial institutions, businesses and consumers and seeks to quantify the overall cost of payments and the cost of various payment methods. This includes both “resource costs” (the costs to the whole economy) and “private costs” (the costs borne by consumers, merchants and financial institutions respectively).