collaboration – APCA Blog

Supporting the Australian Payments Council Hackathon – FinTech Australia

Nick Cliff — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 07:02:10 +0000

With the Australian Payments Council hackathon coming up in mid-August, we reached out to Danielle Szetho from FinTech Australia to find out why she’s excited about the event. Why would you encourage participation in this hackathon? It’s a fantastic opportunity…

Improving Lives with Data, an Australian Payments Council Hackathon

Nick Cliff — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 11:43:42 +0000

As we head into a world where data is more available, it is important to understand how information can be used to benefit our lives. It’s also very important to understand some of the key issues around security and privacy…

International Developments: The Open Bank Project

Nick Cliff — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:47:18 +0000

APCA’s recent submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Data Availability and Use covered the vibrant marketplace current data sharing arrangements have created and the strong platform these provide for a future where data sharing continues. Our submission also looked at…

Connections and Collaboration: What Do They Mean For The Future?

Alice Markie — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 01:12:45 +0000

Payments is a network business, which means that collaboration between a range of stakeholders is vital. With increased consumer expectation, new business models, and continuous innovations in payments technology – how the industry connects and collaborates shapes the future of…

Development Grants for Finance Sector Women

Alice Markie — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:47:54 +0000

This post is dedicated to supporting the 2016 National Industry Scholarship Grant for the development of women across all industries. A national initiative will provide $250,000 dollars towards enabling women into higher levels of leadership across the finance sector. The…

Perspectives on the Australian Payments Plan

Alice Markie — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 01:26:11 +0000

Last month’s release of the Australian Payments Plan (APP) signals big changes for the Australian economy – but what does it actually mean? Watch: Mark Birrell, Chair of the Australian Payments Council, explains what the Australian Payments Plan is and…

Apple Pay in Australia

Chris Hamilton — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 04:21:41 +0000

Here at APCA, one of our jobs is to ensure that the community is well informed about payments systems and their future evolution. We were therefore very interested in recent industry media commentary on the evolution of new payment technologies and, in particular, the progress of Apple Pay in Australia.

Australian payment institutions have been criticised by some in the local media for not getting together to make Apple Pay happen. I am not privy to any commercial discussions (of course), but that is a little surprising. There just might be legitimate pro-competitive reasons for that not happening – they are competitors and given Apple’s market weight, they will doubtless have a significant effect on competitive dynamics. This bears careful thought.

A strange brew – regulator releases its final policy statement on UK Payments

Brad Pragnell — Wed, 06 May 2015 06:32:42 +0000

The new UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) became operational on 1 April 2015 and as reported in the most recent edition of Payments Monitor (APCA's quarterly newsletter), released its first major policy statement, entitled “A new regulatory framework for the payment systems in the UK”.

The PSR has laid down a significant agenda. This includes the establishment of the “Payments Strategy Forum” to develop a collaborative industry strategy and effectively replace the UK Payments Council. The payment system is a network and a strong shared vision and collaborative strategy is critical for success. Collaborative bodies, such as Australia's own Australian Payments Council, recognise the need to have forums that bring industry together. However to be successful, the new Strategy Forum will need active industry participation. If industry is only there to assist in the implementation of public policy, then the new Forum will fall short of expectations.

The return of collaboration

Chris Hamilton — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 01:35:26 +0000

As I think about payments developments in 2014, what strikes me is that the payments world is now in a phase of collaborative systemic innovation, the like of which we have not seen in 20 years.

I have written about the cyclical nature of network evolution before. It’s all about network effects - ie the reality that, in payments as in other network industries, the net value of a service is proportional to the number of other people using the service. Wherever there are large network effects, an evolutionary balance must be struck continuously between service innovation based on the existing network, and systemic innovation to enhance the network itself. The former uses new technology and/or new business thinking to improve services to end users without trying to change the network itself - because this is expensive and hard to do. Service innovation tends to be competitive in nature. A good example is Square, which innovates in the merchant/customer interaction by riding the rails of the existing card schemes.

The latter - systemic innovation - seeks to upgrade the underlying network so that new and better services can ultimately be delivered to end users. The current global enthusiasm for real-time payments is largely in this category - building new networks to (eventually) deliver better services. Because this needs a large number of existing participants to coordinate in upgrading their technology and operations at the same time, it is typically collaborative more than competitive, and government often has an important role to play.

Of payment regulators and payments councils

Chris Hamilton — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:56:37 +0000

Try Googling "Payments Council", at least from Australia, and the first entry you get is the UK Payments Council home page, trumpeting its Faster Payments service, its mobile to mobile payments facility "Paym" and its automated account switching service. The next four entries relate to the joint RBA/APCA consultation on, and establishment of, an Australian Payments Council, which is approaching completion with an inaugural meeting later this year. One might be forgiven for assuming that Australia is in the process of establishing the same kind of body that already exists, and appears to be doing quite a good job, in the UK.

Now try Googling "Payment Systems Regulator". The first four entries relate to the UK development of a new regulator with extensive powers over retail payment systems. The fifth entry is the home page of RBA's Payments System Board, established more than 15 years ago with (rather less extensive) powers to regulate Australian payment systems. Again, one might be forgiven for assuming that the UK was in the process of establishing a regulatory framework on the long-standing and, according to the Financial System Inquiry (FSI), successful Australian model.

Both these assumptions would be wrong. Beware the besetting sin of an information-rich age: analysis by search engine.