The Role of the Payments System Board

The Payments System Board is one of three boards of the Reserve Bank, along with the Governance Board and Monetary Policy Board. The Payments System Board is responsible for the Reserve Bank's payments system policy, including policy in relation to clearing and settlement (CS) facilities. It is responsible for promoting the safety and efficiency of the payments system and through the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 and the Payment Systems and Netting Act 1998, the Reserve Bank has one of the clearest and strongest mandates in the world in relation to payments systems. It is chaired by the Governor of the Bank and has up to seven other members.

The Board is required to exercise its responsibilities in a way that best contributes to:

• controlling risk in the financial system
• promoting the efficiency of the payments system
• promoting competition in the market for payment services, consistent with the overall stability of the financial system.

The Bank has a number of powers to pursue these goals, derived from a range of legislation. These powers include:

• ‘designating’ a payment system as being subject to regulation
• imposing an access regime to establish rules of participation in a payment system
• setting standards for payment systems to promote safety and efficiency
• giving a direction to, gathering information from, and arbitrating between, payment system participants
• setting financial stability standards for CS facilities
• assessing compliance of CS facilities with financial stability obligations
• advising the Minister on matters related to the licensing of CS facilities.