Australian Payments Council

The Australian Payments Council is the strategic coordination body for the Australian payments industry. It was established by the payments community with the support of the Reserve Bank of Australia and engages directly with the RBA’s Payment System Board to drive the strategic agenda for payments. As such, it fosters the ongoing development of the Australian payments system to ensure it continues to meet the changing needs of Australian businesses and consumers with innovative, secure and competitive payment services. The Payments Council has 14 members comprising an independent chairman - Mark Birrell - and senior executives drawn from a broad community of payments organisations with a significant interest in the Australian payments system. These include financial institutions, card schemes, major retailers and other payment service providers. As its first major initiative, the Payments Council published the Australian Payments Plan in December 2015. The Plan provides strategic direction to the payments industry for the next 10 years. It identifies three key areas for industry collaboration in the evolving digital economy: Trust and Security, Managing Australia’s Payments Mix and Enabling the Future.