Media Release Payments System Board Update: June 2026 Meeting

At its meeting today, the Payments System Board discussed a number of issues, including:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA’s) full assessment of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS). The Board approved the assessment of Australia’s real-time gross settlement system, RITS, against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures, completed by the staff of the RBA’s Payments Policy Department. The RBA will publish this assessment in the coming weeks.
• The Review of Payments System Regulation. The Board discussed a range of issues that stakeholders have raised with the RBA that may have implications for competition, efficiency and financial safety in the payments system. Members noted that the RBA is commencing a public consultation by the end of June to seek stakeholder views on issues that may warrant regulatory intervention by the RBA and how they should be prioritised.
• The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The Board discussed the emerging risks from advances in classical and quantum computing, and the approaches to strengthening cryptographic protections in card payments. Members agreed to broaden the RBA’s focus to system-wide cryptographic issues across the Australian payments system, extending beyond card payments. They endorsed consulting on strengthening cryptographic practices as part of the Review of Payments System Regulation to further assess risks, uncertainties and regulatory options. The Board also reaffirmed its expectation that industry maintains strong momentum in its cryptographic uplift efforts, including addressing coordination challenges in meeting the target of December 2030 to mitigate risks associated with quantum computing.

• Implementation of the Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging. Following the publication of the Conclusions Paper on 31 March 2026, the RBA has amended RBA Standards no 1, 2 and 3 to implement the conclusions of this Review. The amended standards were registered on the Federal Register of Legislation on 14 April 2026. The RBA has been engaging with the designated card networks regarding their plans to remove surcharging by introducing no-surcharge rules. Australian Payments Plus has today published an update that a zero-surcharge limit will apply to eftpos transactions from 1 October 2026.

  Prior to the Review of Payments System Regulation, the Board decided that the RBA would not prevent non-designated payment systems from introducing no-surcharge rules. This does not foreshadow or limit any decision the Board may take in the upcoming Review of Payments System Regulation on surcharging on these systems.

• Unmet payment needs and digital money. The Board discussed initial findings from a series of focus groups being held with the public on how the current payments system is meeting the needs of Australians. The Board discussed the insights gathered on current challenges in the payments system, and expectations around potential features of digital money. The Board also noted the finding that Australians were largely indifferent to the concept of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). The findings from the focus groups will be summarised in a report to be published by the external vendor later in the year. These findings will inform the RBA’s updated assessment of the public policy case for retail CBDC in Australia, to be published in 2026/27.