Recommendation 1

4.73

The committee recommends Treasury enhance its skills, capacity, and expertise in the payments space to become more proactive in developing policy and exhibiting leadership.

Recommendation 2

4.77

The committee recommends the Australian Government task the Treasury with legislative change to enable financial regulators to regulate
stored-value facilities in-line with recommendations made by the Council of Financial Regulators.

Recommendation 3

4.81

The committee recommends the Australian Payments Network voluntarily provide to relevant regulators quarterly aggregated information on
non-compliance among its members.

Recommendation 4

4.84

The committee recommends Treasury consult regulators and industry on the effectiveness of payments system self-regulation and table in Parliament by the end of 2023 a review that outlines any gaps in the current self-regulatory model.

Recommendation 5

4.89

The committee recommends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission continue to monitor the ePayments Code and ensure the Code is updated as and when necessary, and provide recommendations to government on whether and how to expand the Code to payment platform providers.

Recommendation 6

4.90

The committee recommends the Australian Finance Industry Association continues to monitor the effectiveness of the Buy Now Pay Later Code of Practice and ensure the Code is updated as and when necessary.

Recommendation 7

4.91

The committee recommends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission be given the power to make the ePayments Code mandatory for all industry participants.

Recommendation 8

4.93

The committee recommends the definition of a payments system within the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1988 be expanded to encompass new and emerging payments systems and platforms, in keeping with the findings of the Treasury Payments System Review.

Recommendation 9

5.111

The committee recommends Treasury consult with relevant agencies to provide policy advice on the merits of regulating payment platform providers as participants in the payments ecosystem, including:

setting out the laws to which these providers are already subject;

detailing the specific regulatory gaps that exist today or may emerge in the future; and

providing advice on the best ways of including payment platform providers within existing payment system regulation.

Recommendation 10

5.113

The committee recommends the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation into Apple’s restrictions on direct third party access to the chips that enable mobile payments on its devices consider:

consumer harms and benefits;

the impact on competition and innovation;

the extent to which similar practices exist in other sectors and industries; and

whether developers have practical and viable alternatives to using Apple Pay to process mobile payments.

Recommendation 11

6.73

The committee recommends the Treasurer direct the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to conduct an in-depth examination of the merits of different regulatory and technological approaches to enabling least-cost routing on mobile transactions, including the merits of consumers retaining the ability to route transactions over their preferred network if they choose to do so.

Recommendation 12

6.86

The committee recommends payment systems make their fee structures more transparent to consumers, merchants, and regulators.

Recommendation 13

6.139

The committee recommends the committee consider an inquiry into the Buy Now Pay Later industry 18 months after the industry Code of Practice came into effect.

Recommendation 14

6.145

The committee recommends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission regularly update its Moneysmart website to ensure it appropriately captures changes in the payments sector.

List of Recommendations