Research and Discussion
The APCA Purpose and Role is to deliver improvements to the Australian payments system, not only through industry policy development but also by providing thought leadership.
Our research projects focus on topics where we believe there will be future change and development. We offer our research to the payments industry and wider community with the aim of encouraging ongoing discussion and debate towards an improved payments system.
APCA ISO 20022
The ISO 20022 standard was identified in APCA's 2008 Low Value Payments Roadmap as a possible solution to the demands of Australian payment system users for additional reference data with payments, and to facilitate globally interoperable straight-through-processing. ISO 20022 is an international framework for financial messaging standards. It is gaining use and recognition around the world as a vehicle for data-rich payments messaging. Given the complexity and diversity of payments infrastructure globally, developments are evolutionary and long-term. An incremental approach has been adopted with the first step being the development of a voluntary, non-binding ISO 20022 specification for Australian payments. The specification document contains the non-binding technical schema for the core Credit Transfer and Direct Debit messages sets typically exchanged between financial institutions. It also provides high level descriptions and schema examples of the flow of payment information from customers to financial institutions utilising the ISO 20022 framework.
To request a copy of the APCA ISO 20022 Specification contact APCA.
Online Payments
In 2009, APCA undertook to analyse the existing online payments market in Australia, review overseas comparisons and attempt to identify gaps in the online payments market for consideration by payment industry participants. The results of this work were published by APCA as a contribution to industry debate on this important topic.
Payments Industry Principles
The Principles for Payments Industry Self-Governance was developed by the International Council of Payment Association Chief Executives (ICPACE) to provide guidance on payment system governance. The Principles are designed to assist improve payment system governance with an emphasis on effective co-regulatory partnership between industry participants and government regulators.
Australian Payments Forum Research
APCA also support the Australian Payments Forum which commissions research and discussion papers relating to aspects of the Australian payments system. These paper are intended to stimulate discussions and do not necessarily represent the views of APCA, its members or any Australian Payments Forum participants.
- The Innovation Journey: The last four years and into the future
Prepared by RFI Consulting on 15 April 2013 - Download PDF - An Industry Approach to Fraud Prevention: The Current State of Play
Prepared by APCA on 29 March 2010 - Download PDF - Competition and Coordination in the Australian Card Payments System
Prepared by APCA on 27 March 2009 - Download PDF - Innovation in Payments - Discussion Paper Prepared by Edgar Dunn &
Company Management Consultants on 17 March 2009 - Download PDF - Card Payments Forum - Discussion Paper Prepared by Access
Economics Pty Limited on 21 October 2008 - Download PDF